


Wildfires Collide

by witchqraft



Category: High School Musical (Movies), Legacies (TV 2018), The Originals (TV), The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Crack Crossover, Crack Treated Seriously, Crossover, Hybrids, Multi, Mystic Falls (Vampire Diaries), Tribrids, Vampires, Werewolves, Witches
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-31
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-18 06:02:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 75,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29113482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/witchqraft/pseuds/witchqraft
Summary: The Salvatore Boarding School for the Young & Gifted is swarmed with supernatural students of all kinds, including a legendary tribrid, a psychotic Gemini witch, and her mellow twin sister. Troy Bolton finds himself getting caught in the flames erupting from Gabriella and Emelie Montez, the school's renowned Gemini witches and the daughters of the headmistress. Troy and Gabriella hate each other's guts, and he's always been neutral with Emelie. Things change when sisterly troubles emerge and Troy finds himself having to choose sides. [DISCLAIMER: This story is like a cleaned-up version of Legacies where Troy replaces Hope, Gabriella replaces Lizzie, and Emelie replaces Josie.]
Relationships: Caroline Forbes/Klaus Mikaelson, Emelie Montez/Penelope Park, Gabriella Montez/Emelie Montez, Hayley Marshall/Klaus Mikaelson, Troy Bolton/Emelie Montez, Troy Bolton/Gabriella Montez
Kudos: 7





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone! This is probably the single craziest thing I've ever written, but I got inspired when I rewatched the High School Musical movies and Legacies s1, and I realized troyella and hizzie have a lot of uncanny parallels! SO I decided to replace Troy and Gabriella as Hope and Lizzie, and I personally visualize Emelie Montez as Kaylee Bryant (so basically Josie with another name lol). I hope you guys enjoy! Kudos and comments are most certainly appreciated!

“Good morning, and welcome to the Salvatore Boarding School for the Young and Gifted, like you! My name is Emelie Montez, and this is my twin sister,” the young woman says to the young, smiling man in front of her, gesturing to the girl on her right.

“Gabriella. Gabriella Montez. Nice to meet you!” the girl says with a charming smile, flashing her pearly white teeth and highlighting her strong cheekbones simultaneously.

The young man outstretches his hand, “Nice to meet you too! I’m Milton Greasley, but you can just call me MG.” Emelie takes his hand first and shakes it briefly, before Gabriella does the same.

“Let’s start off with a tour of the school, shall we?” Gabriella says in a peppy tone, linking her arm with MG’s while Emelie takes his other, leading him into the grand entrance, which has four large cream-colored pillars placed aesthetically in a line. Before the two girls take the new student in between the two middle pillars, they turn their heads toward the blue-eyed young man who leans on the last pillar, his arms crossed nonchalantly across his chest.

“Good morning Troy!” The two girls exclaim cheerfully and in-sync, although unlike her sister, Gabriella is entirely feigning it.

Troy gives them a small smile, which fades as his eyes move toward Gabriella, “Morning, girls.”

Gabriella scoffs to herself, “More like despair.”

“I heard that,”

“No you didn’t,”

“Didn’t have to,” Troy says, clenching his jaw and turning away from them again.

At that same moment, Headmistress Caroline Salvatore walks in, sighing tiredly.

“Everyone, behave,” she says, eyeing her twin daughters and Troy, who side-eyes Gabriella.

Caroline Salvatore built this school in honor of her late husband, Stefan Salvatore, who sacrificed his life for his brother and everyone else in town. The school is simply an extension, a very large and lavish extension, of Stefan’s old home.

Gabriella and Emelie Montez are Caroline’s daughters, however they’re not biologically related to her. She became their surrogate mother when their actual mother was killed brutally, but the twins were still healthily living inside the womb. Caroline raised them as her own, and they both call her their mother anyway.

“Love you, Mom,” Emelie says before the two girls take MG into the building to begin his newbie tour.

“Good morning, Headmistress Salvatore,” Troy says with a genuine smile, which is returned by the youthful woman.

“Good morning, everything is well with your classes?”

“Oh yes, definitely,”

“No broken glass, or ripped out hearts, right?”

Troy chuckles, “Ms. Salvatore, ripping out hearts is a vampire thing.”

“And you, young man, are a tribrid,”

“Eh,” he says, waving his hand in the air dismissively, “I’m not a tribrid yet. I’m just your casual werewolf-witch for now.” Troy smirks as the headmistress rolls her eyes. He’s on good terms with practically everyone, especially the headmistress, who he feels may or may not treat him extra sweetly out of pity.

Troy Bolton is the son of Klaus Mikaelson and Hayley Marshall. Klaus Mikaelson was the world’s very first hybrid (a combination of a vampire and a werewolf), and Hayley Marshall was a werewolf at the time when she was pregnant with Troy. As a result of this miraculous loophole, they were able to reproduce a child that belonged to his own species: the tribrid. Klaus Mikaelson’s mother was an evil witch, and many considered her to be the inventor of dark magic as they know it now.

A tribrid is a combination of three species: vampire, werewolf, and witch. Troy tapped into his witchcraft abilities when he was only six-years-old, and he began his werewolf transformation two years ago, when he was only fifteen. He has yet to completely activate his powers, but that will happen when he dies and revives himself as a vampire, becoming a full tribrid. He doesn’t wish for that to happen anytime soon. _I’d like to keep my heartbeat, thank you._

Klaus and Hayley died to protect Troy from a dark, powerful energy that almost consumed him. Their death has been hard on him, and even two years later, he’s not fully healed, especially as he blames himself for their sacrifice. However, the Mikaelson family has more members: Troy’s aunts, Rebekah and Freya; his uncles, Elijah and Kol. They’ve been as supportive as they could be, mourning the losses of their oldest brother Klaus and the woman who is known to be the savior of the Mikaelson family: Hayley Marshall.

His parents decided to send their son to the Salvatore School, knowing he would be best taken care of there after their death. They also directed him to take another last name at least until he’s an adult to avoid conflict and enemies, something that has always been right on the tail of any Mikaelson, and all because of their last name.

And now we have Troy Bolton, two-third tribrid, student at the Salvatore Boarding School for the Young and Gifted, resident of Mystic Falls. He’s a generally closed off person, however very friendly with everyone he meets, and always ready to the save the day. Everyone, students and faculty alike, loves him.

However, he’s always had fallouts with the Montez twins, who are oh-so-unfortunately the daughters of the headmistress herself. The Montez sisters have always been somewhat hostile towards Troy, although Gabriella has always been more of a bitch than Emelie. She never liked Troy, and he never liked her. Becoming friends seemed like something that was never going to happen, and they both eventually let it go, allowing their unfriendly banter to persist. Sometimes it’s a little more than just some unfriendly banter, but most of the time it’s harmless.

As Troy waits out by the front, waiting for the school day to begin, Gabriella and Emelie continue to show their new student, MG, around the school.

“That’s where the werewolves usually sit, but they’re super cliquey. They don’t really interact with others,” Gabriella says with a bitter roll of her eyes. They’re showing him the dining hall, the grand wooden dining tables set up all around the room.

“You don’t really have to worry about that though, because you’re a vampire! And vampires tend to hang out with whoever they want, to be honest. Right, Gabriella?” Emelie adds.

Gabriella nods her head, “Yep, and it really doesn’t matter anyway. You just be you, MG. That’s why you’re here,” she says with a comforting smile, which MG returns, except his is more goofy and toothy. His jubilant energy is contagious, for both twin sisters begin to smile just like him within a matter of seconds.

“I’m honestly excited to be here, wow. The school looks awesome, the classes are awesome, even the uniforms don’t suck too bad, and everyone seems nice,” MG says, looking up at the elegant and rustic ceiling of the dining hall. The three of them stand on a grand balcony overlooking the hall, and the ceiling is closer to them, so he can pinpoint all of the little carved details all along the top.

“And speaking of uniforms, the code is pretty lenient. Just wear appropriate clothing, and try to incorporate the school colors. The more you wear the colors, or at least the seal pressed or pinned onto your clothing, the better. It counts for stuff when you least expect it,” Emelie says.

“Spirit weeks must be fun here,”

“Oh, they definitely are,”

“So where will I be living?”

“That’s actually where we’re taking you next, to your living quarters. There are three quarters: one for vampires, one for werewolves, and one for witches. Usually any students who belong to another species will be placed with the witches,” Gabriella explains at a rapid pace, but MG catches what she’s saying.

“Hybrids are set to live with vampires though, because of their thirst for blood,” Emelie reminds her sister as they take MG by the arms again and lead him out toward the living quarters, which they decide to reach by crossing the grassy field that is enclosed by the structures of the main building.

“Yep, and we don’t really have any other miscellaneous people anyway. There is Landon Kirby, who’s this weird Phoenix freak show thingy? I don’t even know, all I know is that he can’t die, but otherwise he’s absolutely useless,” Gabriella says with a roll of her eyes.

Emelie clicks her tongue, “Gabi, come on, let’s not talk shit about the other students.”

MG laughs, “It’s ok, I’m bound to find out more about everyone anyway.”

“See, he doesn’t mind,” Gabriella says with a satisfied and proud grin, “and I forgot another miscellaneous… we actually have a student who’s a tribrid.” She suppresses the urge to roll her eyes, as she tells her that she’s rolled her eyes enough times for the morning.

MG’s eyes widen a little, “Woah, a tribrid? I mean I don’t know too much, but there’s only one tribrid out there…”

Gabriella nods her head, “Yep, the Mikaelson heir: Troy Bolton. He was the kid standing by the pillar out front.” She can’t resist it anymore; she rolls her eyes at the thought of Troy.

“Damn, _the_ tribrid goes to the same school as me. This is wild!” MG says with a laugh.

“Don’t get too excited though. Troy’s an asshole, he doesn’t really open up to people and he likes to make people feel miserable,” Gabriella says, biting the inside of her cheek as her anger rises.

“That’s not necessarily true. He throws an arrogant insult here and there, but he’s actually one of the more friendly people in our school. He’s everybody’s friend,” Emelie says with a little smile to herself, one that Gabriella does not see for she’s too busy rolling her eyes for the millionth time.

“Fine, he likes to make _me_ feel miserable, and I hate him. But I guess if you want to be friends with him, you can try it out,” she says to MG with a tired smile.

“So where does Troy live?” He asks, curious about Troy and his way of living amongst the others at the school.

“Witch quarters,” Emelie responds.

“Yeah, unfortunately,” Gabriella says with an exasperated sigh, “meaning we have to deal with him more than we deserve to. As of right now, he’s only two-third tribrid: werewolf and witch. Considering he’s not bound to the moon and doesn’t need restraint on full moon nights, like the other wolves, he stays in the witch quarters. Whenever he becomes a full tribrid, which is whenever he’ll turn into a vampire, he’ll probably move out. God, I can’t wait for that day.” Emelie glances at her sister from the corner of her eye, deciding in her head whether to say this next thing or not.

“I don’t think that’ll be any time soon, much to your dismay, I’m guessing. He doesn’t wanna be a vampire, because he has to die for that to happen, you know,” Emelie says carefully, keeping her eyes forward but feeling Gabriella’s stare burning into the side of her face.

“Why do you know that? Or rather, how? He doesn’t talk about himself, like, ever,” Gabriella says with a little scoff.

“He told me that the other day. He’s not totally hostile about himself if you engage in an actual, civil conversation with him, Gabi,”

Gabriella suddenly feels extremely annoyed at her sister, and she’s not really sure about what, “He’s an ass. I can try anything and everything, and he’d never even greet me civilly in the morning.”

“He just did though,”

“Because you were there,” Gabriella says, not realizing how Emelie’s eyes light up a bit at the sound of those words.

“Well what do I have to do with it?” Emelie says, her heart beating just a bit faster in anticipation and excitement, a rapid heartbeat that MG can hear with his vampire hearing, although he decides to ignore it.

“You were there as a witness. As was MG. And our mother. He couldn’t be a total bastard to me, because there were people to call him out for it,” Gabriella says, once again not noticing Emelie’s facial expression as it droops down just a little in disappointment. _Right, nothing about me directly, of course. Why would I have an effect on Troy Bolton anyway?_ Emelie thinks silently to herself.

MG and the two girls soon complete the tour just in time for the beginning of the school day. All three of them have their first class together, which is Honors Calculus. Nothing special just yet. MG is already wearing a dark blue sweater, which is one of the school’s colors, so he’s already gaining himself some spirit points. Gabriella gives him his Salvatore School seal, and she secures it on the top left portion of his sweater with a spell.

“All set for the day! I hope everything goes well, and if you need any help, you can ask us,” Emelie tells MG before taking her seat. Her seating partner walks in moments later, wearing the same outfit as before. Except now, Troy is also wearing a black jacket that covers his defined biceps, which Emelie can’t stop thinking about.

The miniature Salvatore School lapel is plastered, most probably by a spell, over his heart on his jacket. He sets down his textbook on the table gently and takes his seat, charmingly smiling at Emelie, who returns the smile rather excitedly. Not as if Troy notices anyway, just like Gabi doesn’t notice either, or really anyone.

“All right, class, we have a new student today. Milton Greasley,” the professor says before smiling tightly, “Welcome to the Salvatore School. We can discuss your catching up on the curriculum afterwards. It is March, after all…” MG sinks a bit lower into his seat, and Gabriella seethes at the teacher’s behavior while sitting at the back of the classroom.

“On another note, we’re going to be taking a quiz today,” she says, watching her students groan in frustration. Troy rolls his eyes and looks at Emelie, shaking his head just a little.

“Did we not have one last class? Why does she feel the need to quiz us every class?” He asks her while clearing the surface in front of him and leaving only his pencil.

“Because it’s Professor Walsh; torture is what she knows best,” Emelie responds with a small groan. She also takes out a pencil from her bag and sets it down in front of her, watching Troy from the corner of her eye as he clenches his jaw. _He clenches his jaw a lot. Like, a lot a lot._ She thinks to herself, her mind wandering to all the times she caught herself admiring his jawline, especially the way it defined when he clenched it.

The students complete the pop quiz within the four minute time limit given to them, some of them scribbling down random answers.

“All right, so by the looks of it, all of you failed. That means we’ve got to go over it. Let’s start with the first question. Someone tell me the answer and how you got it,” Professor Walsh says in her sharp tone, and Gabriella immediately raises her hand.

“The equation for the line tangent to the graph of the function is 5y = -3x + 3. That should be correct, ma’am,” she says with confidence, and the professor nods.

“Hmm, well done,” Professor Walsh responds, opening her mouth to move onto the next question, however she sees Troy’s hand shoot up in the air.

“Yes, Mr. Bolton?”

“I don’t think that’s correct, Professor. The question should be 5y = -6x + 6,” he says, resisting the urge to turn back and smirk at Gabriella, whose anger he can literally feel all the way from the front of the classroom.

“Yes, I actually got that too,” Emelie says suddenly, shocking herself as she never speaks out like that. Especially when it goes against her sister. She can feel Gabriella’s anger as well.

“Hmm,” the professor says simply as she walks behind her desk, seemingly looking it up in the answer key. She brushes her tongue against the inside of her cheek before looking back up at her students, and then focusing her eyes on the witch and tribrid duo in the front.

“It seems you two are correct, and that Gabriella is not. My mistake,” she says, and Gabriella bites the inside of her cheek. Troy can no longer resist the urge, and so he turns his head back to look at Gabriella, smirking with his sharp, narrow eyes burning into her chocolate brown ones.

The professor goes over all of the questions on the quiz, and Gabriella finds herself frowning to herself often throughout the process while Troy smiles or nods slightly to himself. He’s always been better, and in almost every way. _It’s not fair._

Emelie and Troy get engaged in the work for the rest of the class, talking to each other and exchanging smiles here and there. Gabriella is starting to see it: her sister may or may not have a thing for Troy Bolton. _Ugh, why Troy out of all men? She couldn’t find someone more arrogant and stuck-up?_

Gabriella is glaring at Troy as he speaks to her sister, writing something on her paper and then focusing on his own. His head is slightly turned, and so the side of his face is relatively clear to Gabriella. He clenches his jaw once again, and the muscles in his face define. Gabriella finds herself unable to look away, until her seating partner pokes her arm with the pointy edge of the pencil.

“Ugh!” Gabriella exclaims, turning bitterly to the short-haired girl next to her, “God, what’s your problem?”

“I don’t have a problem, but it seems you do, don’t you?” The girl says smartly.

“Leave me alone, Penelope. Just give me one day to breathe, will you?”

“I actually was planning on leaving you alone today, but then I saw you drooling over Troy Bolton and just _had_ to say something,” Penelope says with a condescending little scrunch of her nose. Gabriella narrows her eyelids but widens her pupils simultaneously, something that makes her stare quite terrifying.

“Drooling? Over Troy Bolton? You’re absolutely delusional, Penelope. However, we’ve all been aware of that ever since you came to this school,” Gabriella says with a roll of her eyes before returning to her work.

“Oh please, the way you were looking at him?”

“Yes, that’s called a glare. A glare of hatred. Nothing new,”

“No, you were watching him clench that sexy jaw of his, now weren’t you hon?”

“Penelope,” she says, leaning into her threateningly, “I hate his guts. Leave me alone before I spell you into oblivion.”

“All right all right,” Penelope says, holding her hands up in defense, “I mean I think you guys would make a great couple, but whatever you say.” Gabriella looks at Penelope incredulously before turning toward Troy and Emelie again, and that’s when a light switches on in her head.

“Oh! I see what you’re trying to do! You’re trying to set us up so that there’d be no chance of him dating Emelie… because you obviously see it too. The way she’s definitely crushing on him,” Gabriella says, suppressing a gag at the thought. Emelie with Penelope? A hot mess. Emelie with Troy? A hot mess. Either way her sister loses, which just isn’t fair.

Penelope clears her throat, clearly bothered by the comment, “This has nothing to do with Emelie. Don’t change the subject—“

“This has been the subject all along! You just want your ex back, well here’s some news for you,” Gabriella leans into her threateningly yet again, her eyes narrow, “My sister doesn’t have time for your shallow, scheming self. She’s never getting back with you, because you’re a little bitch. And obviously, by the looks of it, a desperate bitch. Emelie deserves way better than you.” Penelope rolls her tongue over the inside of her cheek before turning to her paper, avoiding Gabriella for the rest of class and eventually, the rest of the day as well.

Penelope Park dated Emelie for several months last year, but Emelie broke it off when Penelope’s tendency to evilly butt into things that had nothing to do with her became a bit too much for Em to handle. Gabriella thinks of Penelope as satan incarnate, and she will always been glad that her relationship with her twin sister no longer exists. Penelope seems to be trying to woo Emelie back, and it’s overall pretty subtle, except for the fact that Gabriella sees right through all of her tactics.

—

“You can at least try to be friends with him, you know?” Emelie says to Gabi as they both consume their lunch. Or rather, as Emelie consumes her lunch and Gabi sips her water.

“Why do you suddenly care so much?” Gabriella responds, knowing fully why she keeps asking for the same favor multiple times in one day.

“I don’t suddenly care! It’s just— I know it takes up a lot of your energy. And people like my satanic ex-girlfriend like to rub it in your face just to make your day go worse. It’s not right, but maybe that can all go away if you’d just attempt to be his friend,” Emelie says sympathetically, and Gabi softens and sighs.

“I’ve always told you, I can’t. Every time I try, he shuts me out. I've tried to be his friend— when I was five, and when I was nine, and when I was thirteen. He never makes any effort,” Gabriella says with a bitter roll of her eyes.

Emelie sighs, “He’s lost a lot. Maybe he’s just scared to let anyone in.”

“Troy Bolton doesn’t hold the patent on having lost things in life. Everyone has lost something. And while I feel terrible for him… it’s not okay for him to treat me the way he does. It’s not fair,” Gabi says, casting her eyes downward.

“All right, you know what, forget about it. Forget about him. Let’s just focus on making sure MG is having a good first day,” Emelie says just as they sense someone walking toward their spot in the dining hall. Gabi turns her head, and then immediately rolls her eyes in frustration.

“God, speak of the _actual_ devil,” she says, shaking her head to herself as Troy avoids her all together and smiles slightly at Emelie.

“I don’t think you have to worry about that, Em. I just talked to him, and he seems to be liking it here. All the teachers have been good to him too, except for Professor Walsh of course. But I told him that Walsh is always like that, and to literally everyone,” Troy says as Emelie smiles back, her smile wider than his, something that Gabriella does finally notice.

“Thank you for checking up on him, I do appreciate it,” Emelie responds while Gabi scoffs.

“Speak for yourself,” she says as she rises from her seat, “we don’t need you to do our job, thank you very much.”

Troy bitterly smiles at her, “I’m trying to helpful. Do you not appreciate help? Fine, I won’t help you then, even when you forget to multiply the denominator in calculus.“ Gabriella groans in frustration while furiously picking up her bag, storming out from the dining hall exit, which leads right toward the lake. Emelie decides against going after her; she needs to spend some time alone.

“Anger issues, much?” Troy says condescendingly, watching Gabriella as she storms off outside. A part of him is satisfied by her anger, while another feels horrible. He stuffs the latter feeling deep Into his brain.

Emelie’s smile has now disappeared as she looks at Troy with an eyebrow raised, “Yes, anger issues. It’s a mental illness, actually. Something Gabriella’s literally diagnosed with. Maybe be a little less ableist and a little more sensitive?” She hates to see her sister get treated this way, although it’s definitely true that Gabriella brings it upon herself most of the time. Emelie rises from her seat as well and heads to the second story, probably going to the headmistress’ office.

Troy stays in his spot, letting Emelie’s words linger in the air for a little bit as they continue to echo in his ears. He purses his lips very slightly, before taking himself to the library: his favorite spot in the entire school. Sometimes he has to remind himself to leave, forcing himself to go back to his quarters, which just happens to be right next to Gabriella and Emelie’s room.

He walks into the library and inwardly smiles, trying to forget about what just happened. He has thirty minutes until his next class, and he decides to stay put until then. The Stefan Salvatore Memorial Library is dedicated entirely to Stefan and his diaries, books, and hobbies. The library is beautifully designed and contains lots of artifacts and memorabilia. Troy approaches the table that holds Stefan’s old diary in a glass box, and his fingers run over the grooves created by the carving on the old wood that says “DS + EG”, which stands for Damon Salvatore and Elena Gilbert. Damon Salvatore was Stefan’s brother, and Elena is Damon’s wife. The two are happily married as of right now and give donations to the school every month. Troy bites the inside of his cheek briefly, seeming fully immersed in his thoughts until a voice breaks his train of thought into pieces.

“You seriously couldn’t find any other place to be, Bolton?” Gabriella’s bitter and hurt voice says, filling the void library with it entirely. He turns to her and his eyes almost immediately narrow a bit.

“We’ve been fighting over this entire library for years, Montez. Move on, we’re both going to have to share it,” he responds before turning back to the table, removing his hand from the carving and beginning to move toward one of the tall bookshelves. Gabriella’s voice stops him yet again.

“DS + EG,” she says simply, her eyes almost dazed as she looks at the same carving that he was tracing with his finger moments ago.

“Yeah, Damon Salvatore and Elena Gilbert,” Troy says, feeling suffocated in this conversation. It has never been easy for him to communicate with Gabriella, and this conversation was becoming too civil for it to be normal.

“They have an interesting story, you know,” she remarks, looking up directly into his eyes for the first time after their encounter in the dining hall. Her eyes are a bit glossy, a sight that makes Troy feel a pang of guilt.

“I don’t know much about it,” he says curtly, although the tone of his voice is softer.

“It’s in Stefan’s Salvatore diary, if you wanna read it,” she says, to which Troy furrows his eyebrows a bit.

“Gabriella, the diary is locked up,”

“And?” She responds, and Troy can’t help but smirk just a little.

“You really just took his diary out of the case?”

“Yes, I wanted to see if there was anything more about the legendary DS + EG that sits on that table. And I was right! There was!” Gabriella exclaims, a very small smile showing up on her face as well.

“Maybe if I’m ever in the mood to break the diary out of its glass case, sure I’ll read more about them,” he responds with amusement, “but since you’ve already read it, what’s so special about them?”

“They were epic,”

“That’s it?”

“What do you mean by that’s it? It’s literally epic love,”

“Well what made it epic?”

“The odds were always against them. In fact, they started off as enemies. They hated each other’s guts, and Elena was actually dating Stefan himself. But then she got closer to Damon, and found that his love consumed her. He was the only one that understood that she wasn’t a broken toy that needed to be fixed, but rather someone that needed to be appreciated for their sacrifices,” Gabriella’s voice gets softer and softer as she progresses through their story, but as her voice is the only one in the room, it’s still strong and clear in Troy’s ears. He listens intently, capturing every word and trying so hard to erase that feeling of familiarity that came from “hated each other’s guts”.

Gabriella moves past Troy, going over to the bookshelf to pick out her favorite novel, “Pride and Prejudice” by Jane Austen. Everyone knows it’s her favorite book, but Troy has seen her read it countless times himself, although he’s never told that to anyone. He attributes that to the fact that they’re always in the library, enjoying the room itself but seething at each other’s unwanted presence.

“Do you ever read anything else?”

“I consider myself well read, thank you very much,” she responds bitterly.

“You seem to be reading the same novel everyday,”

“You’re quite narrow-minded, although that information isn’t new. How bold of you to assume that I only read in the library. I have plenty of my own books in my room,”

“So you just come here to read that one novel?” Troy asks, making Gabriella turn out with exasperation.

“Yes, Bolton. Yes, that’s what I do. It’s therapeutic, although you obviously wouldn’t understand or care,” she says as she grabs the novel and makes her way all the way to the other end of the vast library. She seats herself on the chair that he planned on taking, but he doesn’t say a word about it, which is unlike him.

Troy seats himself at a table, about to take out his Immortality and Creation textbook, but something stops him. His mind starts to wander back to Gabriella’s words.

_They started off an enemies. They hated each other’s guts… but then she got closer to Damon, and found that his love consumed her._

Troy lets out a breath that he has been unconsciously holding in, pushing Gabriella and the story of DS + EG out of his mind. Why he’s having so much trouble keeping a piece of history out of his head… even he doesn’t know.

—

“The Immortality Slumber Spell is a powerful ritual that allows witches to reach a form of pseudo-immortality, without being left powerless as a balance,” Professor Ito says to her Immortality and Creation class, “The spell functions by placing the witch into a deep slumber that would last a century, arresting all biological functions besides the growth of the witch's magic. The witch would then awake, but is allotted only but a single year to walk the Earth before the cycle repeats itself. It is worth nothing that during their century slumber, the witch cannot be killed or harmed and during their year of life, the witch would remain immortal in all ways.”

Gabriella take notes in her half-neat half-messy handwriting, the tip of the pen gliding smoothly across the paper as the professor speaks at full speed. Troy sits on the other end of the classroom, writing on his paper as well, although it doesn’t look like he’s taking notes. _Of course not, he’s a Mikaelson witch. He practically owns the Immortality spells._ Gabriella thinks to herself, the frustration building up inside of her once again.

“What does the spell require? List one thing,” Professor Ito points to Gabriella.

“Circle of Salt,” she responds quickly, much to the professor’s satisfaction.

“Good. And there’s one more requirement,” she scans the room rapidly before picking another student, “Troy. You tell me, what’s the other requirement?”

“Runic symbols,” he answers just as quickly as Gabriella had moments before.

“Well done, Mr. Bolton. I believe the first recorded performance of this spell actually involved your—“

“Aunt Freya,” he interrupts gracefully, “my aunt told me a bit about it, although I was young and don’t remember too much.” The class exchanges some looks amongst each other and with Troy, but Gabriella rolls her eyes. _Anything for attention, of course._ She thinks to herself about Troy.

“Well that’s honestly all for today, I would allow you to finish your homework in class, but it’s _home_ work for a reason,” she says as the students inwardly groan, “so for the rest of class we’ll do some spell practices.” All of the students’ heads perk up; practicing spells is probably all of the witch students’ favorite thing to do.

“I need three volunteers to conjure a ball of light,” she says, and almost all of the hands go up.

“Wait, why three?”

“Why not?” The professor responds, a small smirk on her face as the student shrugs.

“Why don’t we pick three different types of witches? I need a Gemini siphoner… Gabriella why don’t you volunteer?” The professor says in her rapid pace, and Gabriella proudly gets up from her seat and makes her way to the front.

“Blair, you’re a French Quarter witch, right?” Professor Ito asks the young girl, who nods her head, “all right, then you’re up too!” She scans the room and her eyes fall on Troy yet again.

“We don’t have any other special witches in the room but you, Mr. Bolton. Our renowned Mikaelson witch. Would you like to volunteer?” Troy smiles at the opportunity and rises out of his seat.

“Of course I would,” he says as he makes his way to the front, standing to the left of Gabriella while Blair stands to the right.

“All right now, all three of you, conjure a ball of light,” the professor says, and all three of the students who are standing up front bring their hands out in front of them, hovering one above the other before moving them simultaneously in a circular forward motion. All eyes are on Troy, as usual as he’s the Mikaelson witch, and so Gabriella moves her foot slightly to touch upon the base of a small table, on which an old sword artifact sits. She siphons the energy from the table, including the old magical sword, and no one notices.

“Post tenebras spreo lucem,” all three of them say at once, the circular motion of their hands revealing a ball of light floating in their palm. However, all eyes immediately move to Gabriella as her ball of light is bigger, brighter, and seems to spreading out majestically in the air around her. Troy turns to the bright light, his eyes narrowing a bit from the strain. _She siphoned, didn’t she?_ He thinks to himself, shaking his head unnoticeably in frustration.

“Oh! Well it seems the Gemini witch has conjured up something a little more special than a ball of light,” the professor says with a little joyful laugh.

“She must have siphoned from something,” a student in the class says, almost bitterly.

“Yes, and that’s fine. The whole point of getting three different witches was to see how they’d do the same spell differently. Blair and Troy’s look fairly the same, but Gabriella’s spell resulted in a sprawling flower of light. And that shows the difference the siphoning powers of a Gemini witch can have when used appropriately. Well done, all of you may sit down now,” The professor explains and directs as Gabriella clasps her hands together, the flower of light dissipating at once.

A Gemini witch comes from the Gemini coven, and all of the witches from the coven are twins. These witches have the ability to siphon magic, which means they can absorb energy or magic from one thing and use it for another. They can also store their magic, and this ability can be extra useful in many situations, as Gabriella demonstrated in class moments ago. Gabriella and Emelie are Gemini twins, and one of the most renowned Gemini twins is their uncle: Kai Parker. Kai is a legendary psychopath who is currently trapped in a prison world in order to protect the supernatural world from his wrath, and many say that Gabriella with her anger issues reminds them of Kai, something she doesn’t exactly enjoy hearing too much. Unfortunately, Troy loves to add fuel to that particular fire… and all the time, too.

The school day comes to an end, and the students go to their respective quarters while some go to other locations around the vast campus. Gabriella is making her way to the witch quarters by crossing the large grass field, looking at the three tall housing structures that are nearing her as she approaches them. The one in the middle belongs to the witches, and that’s the stone building in which she enters.

Troy is standing in the lobby of the quarters, much to her surprise and her dismay. He turns his head toward her and smirks, making everyone else who was conversing with him do the same.

“You really thought you’d be a showboat today in I&C, huh?” He says, and Gabriella laughs bitterly.

“I wasn’t being a showboat. I was being a witch. A Gemini witch,” she bites her bottom lip and raises her eyebrows, “if me being myself seems like showboating to you, well I think that’s an insecurity problem.” Troy scoffs at her remark.

“I’m a tribrid, what do I possibly have to be insecure about?” He says, slightly spreading his arms and gesturing around him, something that his father and his uncles are renowned for. People call it the “Mikaelson gesture,” and Gabriella hates to see Troy doing it.

“The fact that the best you could do was conjure up a little sphere of light while I could make my own little flower,” she says in a nearly singsongy voice, making his eyes roll in annoyance.

“I could do the same if I tried. But I didn’t. Because I don’t constantly try to make myself look better than others, unlike you,”

Gabriella laughs yet again, “Oh please, you’re always trying to do everything to get attention!”

“Says the narcissist,” Troy spits back, scoffing and heading up the spiraling stone staircase toward his quarters. Gabriella exits the building and decides to go to her room in a bit, maybe when he’s not there. Right now there’s no way she’s following him up the stairs and entering the room right across from his… which just happens to be hers.

Oh, what a shame to have Troy Bolton as your neighbor. Especially when you’re Gabriella Montez.


	2. Chapter 2

“Oh god, Gabi. What did you do?”

“It was an accident!”

“It doesn’t matter! His arm, it’s broken! We have to fix it!”

“God, no Emelie! I’m sorry I casted the spell, I swear I didn’t mean to. But we can’t go and heal his broken bone with everyone watching! All of the mortals sitting in the stands… we can’t do this right now,”

“Forget the people in the stands! I have to heal him!”

The Salvatore School Stallions and the Mystic Falls Timberwolves are playing against one another in a game of flag football. The Timberwolves are winning, except now their star player has an open fracture in his ulna, and he’s bleeding immensely. Why is he bleeding?

Because Gabriella Montez lost her cool.

The score was not looking pretty, and with the Stallions never being able to beat the Timberwolves, she wasn’t satisfied with the outcome of the game. In the back of her mind, she was thinking about doing something, anything that will help the Stallions win. Even if that meant hurting one of the Timberwolves.

The dark thoughts sitting deep into the abyss of her mind came out to the front and took control when the star player stole the ball from her hands, running off toward the end of the field to make yet another touchdown. Before she knew it, she had already casted the spell, and the poor player’s ulna was all jagged and sticking out from under his skin, the blood dripping profusely from his arm.

Now Emelie is rushing to his aid, prepared to heal him with a spell that will not only stop the bleeding but put his ulna back into place as well. But everyone’s watching, and Gabi knows that the screaming boy with his broken ulna suddenly getting up with his ulna all fixed will not look right.

But once again, it’s too late. Emelie has already made her way over, and she’s casted the spell. There’s no more agonized screaming, although there’s definitely chaos and commotion.

Troy walks out of the building and toward the field, watching the scene from afar. Using his wolf senses, he can smell the pool of blood created by the open fracture, which is now healed as a result of Emelie’s quick actions. Troy’s sparkling blue eyes dart toward the crowds on either side, both of which look extremely nervous, and for different reasons too. The students around the teenage boy lying in the middle of the field separate slightly, and Emelie helps the boy up, using the exact arm of his that was broken just moments ago.

Gabriella groans and rubs her hand over her face in frustration. _God, could you be more obvious about it, Em?_

The mortal crowd on the stands on the right of the field don’t seem to have caught on, although some do look suspicious. Perhaps they didn’t see what happened? There were a lot of people surrounding the boy when she casted the spell, so maybe they didn’t see.

But he was holding the ball. All eyes were essentially on him. Gabriella can feel herself getting worked up, her respiration rate rising and her heart rate getting faster by the second. She storms off the field as she hears the team’s coaches call the game to quits, declaring that there will be a rematch soon. She spots Troy watching the chaos from the corner of her eye, and she turns her head toward him when she realizes he’s not looking at her.

She regrets looking at him directly when he turns in her direction, watching her as she heads off into the school. Gabriella scowls and whips her head forward again, not giving him another look as she walks into the stone building. The other players stream into the gymnasium, and Emelie walks in last, avoiding Gabriella’s gaze as she knows what’s coming.

“What the hell was that, Em?” Gabi says with a strong, loud tone, making everyone’s ears perk up at the sound. Emelie purses her lips and continues to avoid looking at her twin, who is clearly angry and losing control by the minute.

“His bone was broken, he was bleeding, he was screaming. And I helped him,” she says quietly, but loud enough for everyone to hear.

“I get you’re the selfless saint, but it’s not always good to be selfless,” Gabriella spits out, which makes Emelie’s head snap up, her eyes narrow and threatening just like her sister’s.

“Well it’s not always good to be selfish, either,” she remarks, watching Gabriella clench her jaw in sheer anger.

“I’m not being selfish. They would’ve taken him to the ER and they would’ve patched him up there. You didn’t need to put nearly seventy mortals in suspicion by healing a broken bone right in front of their eyes!”

“I was thinking about the kid! He was in pain, and in danger!”

“Yes! But now the entire school is in danger, Emelie! You have to think about that too! You may think me being against healing that boy is selfish because I’m thinking about our school rather than the kid, but you have now put hundreds of supernaturals students in danger by healing that one useless, mortal boy. Who also happened to steal the ball from my hands!” Gabriella exclaims, exhaling sharply before shaking her head and leaving the gymnasium. The door slams behind her, and the other players are left in silence as Emelie processes what her sister just said, before she herself leaves the gymnasium as well.

The next morning, Headmistress Salvatore calls in for a school-wide assembly in the auditorium. All of the students file in to the spacious, well-built room, which the headmistress standing up front at the podium. Her blonde hair sits perfectly on her shoulders, and her youthful 19-year-old look has not faded one bit, and why would it? She’s a vampire, and she’s living the best life a vampire could be living anyway.

“Good morning, Salvatore School,” her smooth voice booms over the auditorium as she speaks into the microphone calmly.

“Some of you may have guessed why we’re here,” she says as she spots her daughter Gabriella rolling her eyes as she sits in one of the middle rows, “and some of you may have not. We’re here because of the events that went down at yesterday’s flag football game.

“A young man named Ethan Machado broke his arm on the field, and for unknown causes,” she says, spotting her other daughter giving her twin sister an ugly look, “and one of our students used magic to heal the boy.” Emelie lets her head hang downward, not looking anyone in their eyes.

“And we’ve gotten some people who are suspicious about what happened yesterday, although there is no need to panic for most of them didn’t even notice. Half of them didn’t even know about the broken arm; all they heard was the boy’s scream. However, we still need to take action to protect the school from further suspicions, and the real reason why I called this meeting was to brainstorm. We need to think of something that will establish us as a normal school, as part of the mortal society that exists outside these gates. The Honor Council makes these decisions usually, but this is urgent,” Caroline finishes as Gabriella rises up from her seat, revealing herself entirely as everyone else is seated on their chair. Gabriella is wearing a white collared button-down shirt with a thin, black ribbon hanging delicately from the neck. She’s got on a blue plaid skirt with a small Salvatore School crest embroidered on the edge with golden thread, black stockings, and dark blue ballet flats. Her dark brown hair falls mostly straight, however the ends are slightly wavy and add volume to her hair overall.

“We should recruit new students, and make our recruitment more public. Every time we find students, it’s always so covert, and it makes us more suspicious,” Gabriella says confidently, leaning her weight on her one foot with her intertwined hands resting in front of her body.

Troy rises up from his chair, which is across the aisle on the other side and a few rows behind her, “So you’re saying we recruit from the mortal population? Well, that’s a great plan. Invite a mortal to study amongst a bunch of supernaturals to show them that we’re totally normal.” He smirks at her and raises his eyebrows momentarily, making Gabriella narrow her eyes in anger.

“That’s not what I said, Bolton. I said we should make our recruitment more public. Like find a new supernatural student and then take a tour with them across Mystic Falls. So we look normal, it’s not that hard to understand,” she responds bitterly, and Caroline rubs her temple momentarily, watching her short-tempered daughter and her star student fight it out in front of the entire student body.

“Please, both of you, stop,” Caroline says in a tired tone, “I understand what both of you mean. Making our recruitment more public is more risky than it is beneficial, but getting new students is a good idea overall.” Troy and Gabriella stand in their spots, their hands clasped as their arms hang in front of them, both giving each other dirty looks.

“I have another idea,” Troy says, making Gabriella inwardly groan as she stays standing, “The Miss Mystic Falls Pageant is coming up, right? We should host it. It’s just one night, and we can set it up in our banquet hall, which is probably better than any other location in town, anyway. We can have people from our school compete, because we have many beautiful and strong women to do that, of course.” He says with a small smile, seeing almost every girl in the room smile or giggle at his words.

Emelie smiles softly at him, looking at him as he stays standing, awaiting the headmistress’ response. He’s wearing a casual navy blue blazer with the Salvatore School crest threaded on it with golden thread, a black shirt underneath, black pants, and black Valentinos. One aspect of his outfit is always designer, because as a Mikaelson, he has all the money in the world to spend at his leisure. Emelie can’t help but ravish the image in front of her, but she forces herself to look away before she starts blushing.

“That’s not a bad idea, but the Miss Mystic Falls Pageant is usually held during the end of the third week of March, and that’s next week. We have less than fourteen days to pull this off, and if we have enough students who are willing to work their butts off, then yes. Yes, we may host the pageant. As a former winner of the pageant, I’m definitely up for it,” Caroline says with a wide and happy smile, nodding slightly at Troy in approval. Gabriella clenches her jaw and looks over to Troy, who keeps his head forward but moves his sharp, blue eyes onto her, clenching his jaw as well, but obviously for different reasons. All Gabriella wants to do is slap that smirk off his face.

“All right, well who’s going to run from our school?” Gabriella asks, looking around the entire room with her eyebrows raised.

“One of your daughters should run, Headmistress Salvatore. I mean, they can follow in their mother’s footsteps,” Troy says with an amused smile, chuckling a little as the headmistress laughs softly as well. Gabriella looks at him with her eyebrows furrowed slightly. _What’s he up to now?_ Emelie looks at Troy as well, her eyes dancing as they meet his momentarily.

“That’s up to them, of course. But anyone who wants to join the pageant should fill out the form that the Honor Council will be releasing by dinnertime. As of right now, all of you should go to the dining hall to have breakfast, and then disperse for classes. Have a great rest of your Monday, everyone,” Caroline steps off the podium and stands off to the side for a few moments, making sure all of the students exit the auditorium.

“Are you going to run?” Gabriella asks Emelie as they exit the auditorium, but her sister only looks at her with a half-angry half-confused expression.

“You’re talking to me again?” Em responds, and Gabriella sighs.

“Yes, I am. Forget what happened. Look, something good came out of it anyway. The boy was saved, and now we get to host the iconic Miss Mystic Falls Pageant!” Gabriella says, trying her best to convince her sister to let it go, and it doesn’t take too much work. Emelie soon smiles sweetly and nods.

“Yeah, I guess it’s fine. Anyway, to answer your question, no way in hell am I joining! I’m not made for this stuff,” Em says as Gabriella scoffs with her jaw hanging open.

“You’re kidding me, right? This is literally your thing!”

“Showing myself off? Definitely not,”

“It isn’t showing yourself off, Em. It’s about showing poise, dancing with some pretty girl or guy, and making an impression. Considering you’re probably the most poised person I know,” Gabriella says with a little playful nudge, making Emelie giggle, “I think you’re all set to win.”

“I think you should run too,”

“No way! Ironically, I’m the _least_ poised person in the school,”

“That’s far from true, Gabi. Dancing, being in front of crowds, showing elegance. It’s your thing too, arguably more than it’s my thing. You should run with me,” Emelie says, and Gabriella bites the inside of her cheek.

“We go against each other? I don’t know, I don’t really like the idea of that,” Gabi says in response, thinking about how every time Emelie and Gabriella have run against each other in anything… Gabriella usually won the prize. For once, Gabi isn’t looking to win; she wants her sister to have the spotlight.

“Yeah, because if either of us win, it’s a celebration for the school and for Mom. I mean, she’s got two daughters. If both of us run, there’s double the chance of her legacy being carried on,” Emelie says with a small wiggle of her shoulders, and Gabriella can’t help but give in.

“Fine, I’ll run too. But you’re carrying the weight, because there’s no way I’m winning,” Gabi says, and Emelie just groans at her words.

“Whatever helps you sleep at night,” she replies with a smirk as they walk into the dining hall for breakfast. There is the usual pastry table set up on the side, the warm eggs and sausage being served in the back, and then the fruit and drinks on a table on the other side. The students are all seated within the center of the hall, eating and chatting before the school day begins.

“Emelie!” Troy’s voice can be heard calling from one of the tables toward the back, which is usually where Gabi and Em sit with their friends. At the table is MG, Landon, his brother Rafael, a girl named Alyssa, and today Penelope is there too. And so is Troy. The last two are usually not there, but they are today, much to the twins’ dismay.

The girls make their way over, with Emelie giving Penelope a dirty look, “What are _you_ doing here?”

“Just eating breakfast with my friends,” Penelope responds with an amused smile, biting rather sexually into her cheese danish. Emelie rolls her eyes, expecting a comeback from Gabriella any minute now.

“Well now _we’re_ here, and we’re not your friends. So I suggest you scram, demon spawn,” Gabi says as she sets up bag down on her seat and goes to get some food. She heads toward the fruit and drinks table on the far left side of the vast dining hall, grabbing a glass bowl and filling it with raspberries, cantaloupe, strawberries, and grapes. There are cups of coffee set up in rows, kept warm even in the open air with a warmth spell, and she picks up a cup to go with her fruit bowl.

As Gabriella obtains her breakfast, Emelie chooses a seat far from Penelope, which just happens to be next to Troy. After all, he did call her over to their table.

“Good morning,” she says timidly to Troy, smiling sweetly as he flashes her a charming smile, his blue eyes sparkling in the light.

“Good morning Em,” he says as he gracefully puts a raspberry on the tip of his tongue, retracting it into his mouth and chewing it subtly. Emelie is intently staring at his jawline as he eats, and she doesn’t realize how long she’s been doing so until he looks at her with slightly furrowed eyebrows.

“Uh, Emelie?” He says, waving his hand in front of her and then chuckling softly, “You look a little occupied there.” Em can’t help but blush, but she just laughs it off.

“Um, yeah, just thinking about the pageant,”

His eyebrows shoot up slightly, “You’re running?”

“Well you recommended it to the whole school, so…” she says with a little smirk, which Troy returns. The butterflies in her stomach are slowly turning into violently flapped pigeons as Troy’s blue eyes continue to pierce into her.

“Just trying to please the Headmistress, although—“ he pauses and bites the corner of his bottom lip slightly, “I’m glad you’re running. I’m sure you’ll win.” Emelie holds her breath for a moment, processing what he just said.

“Wow, uh, well everyone from the town’s running, so I bet that’s untrue. But still, thank you,” she responds, unable to stop her cheeks from turning bright red, which she hopes Troy doesn’t notice (although he very much does). He gives a close-mouthed smile, and she forces herself to look away. _I’m gonna give myself away if I stay here any longer._

Luckily at that same moment, Gabriella emerges with her little bowl of fruit and cup of coffee, seating herself next to Emelie and then realizing that she’s only a seat away from Troy.

“Ugh, out of all the seats you could’ve picked, you picked this one?” Gabi says to Em, rolling her eyes at Troy.

“Yes, she did,” he says to Gabriella, a small smirk playing on his lips, knowing it only makes her more frustrated.

“You don’t need to speak for her, you know that, right? All that talk about strong and beautiful women, yet you’re talking on behalf of my sister. Please, sweet-talk much?” Gabriella spits back, to which Troy drops his smirk and looks back down to his food. Her eyes follow his momentarily, and she notices that they’re eating the same breakfast. He has a small bowl of fruit as well, and a little cup of coffee identical to hers.

“Would you like some eggs? Or a pastry?” Emelie offers Gabi, who shakes her head with a smile.

“No thanks, Em. You don’t need to offer everyday, I’ll always say no,”

Emelie rolls her eyes playfully, “Oh yeah, I’m fully aware. But maybe you ate a little more…”

“I eat just fine! I’m just health-conscious, that’s all,”

“Yes, eating minimally and doing a million sit-ups. I _know_ you’re health-conscious,”

“Ugh, just leave me alone, will you?” Gabriella responds with yet another playful nudge, making Emelie giggle again. Troy looks up at the sound, and while Emelie doesn’t notice, Gabriella certainly does. Her mind immediately wanders to the idea that maybe he has a crush on her too, which only makes Gabriella more angry. No way Troy Bolton is getting his hands on her sister.

“Well, it’s not just me,” Gabriella says with a slightly louder tone, so that Troy and everyone else on the table can hear the conversation too, “Troy has the same breakfast as me. So if I’m gonna be shamed, technically he should be too.”

“No one should be shaming anyone for their eating habits,” Emelie says quickly, smiling at Troy, who returns the smile gladly.

“Oh how quickly you switches sides,” Gabriella says to Em, her voice a little more hostile. Emelie’s foot taps anxiously under the table; she wants to tell Gabriella to lay off the insults because she’s crushing on Troy, but first she’d have to tell her sister about the crush itself, which will _not_ slide.

“Anyway,” Emelie says, attempting to change the subject, “what are we gonna do for the pageant? I mean how do we even get ready?”

“We have to get dresses, I think that’s the first step. We’ll just ask Mom, it’ll be fine,” Gabriella says with a smile, and she catches Troy looking at her curiously from the corner of her eye, “What now, Bolton?” Her bitter tone is nothing new for Troy, and so he narrows his eyes threateningly at her.

“You’re running too?” He asks in an incredulous tone, one that only fuels Gabriella’s fire of hatred toward him.

“Yes, I am. Why do you seem so surprised?”

“I’m not, just asking,” he responds, running his tongue along the inside of his cheek.

“Yep, double the chance for our mom to see her legacy get carried on,” Gabriella responds, taking her cup of coffee and sipping it arrogantly.

“So we need dresses… from where?” Emelie says almost to herself, and then to Gabriella.

“We have plenty, but we can buy new ones. Or have them tailored. Whatever seems better,” she replies as Troy looks down at his scanty breakfast again. _Emelie needs a dress…_ he thinks silently to himself as the gears in his head turn.

—

“Post the pageant forms outside, it’s nearly dinnertime and we don’t want the Headmistress waiting on us,” Troy says to the rest of the Honor Council as they sit at their meeting, the pageant forms prepared and being mass printed in the corner of the room.

The Honor Council consists of a representative for every main species that attends the school: Troy Bolton as the tribrid representative; Emelie Montez as the witch representative; Rafael Waithe as the werewolf representative; and MG as the vampire representative, because although he’s new, the vampire representatives never stuck for some reason. MG took up the role and has been doing well for the past week or two.

At that same moment, the Headmistress walks into the meeting room, smiling at the students as she hears the forms being printed from the printers.

“Good, I see you’ve finished the forms. Rafael and MG, get the sheets out there as soon as possible. Em, Troy, I need you to come with me,” Caroline says as she leads them out of the room, and the witch and the tribrid share an antsy look.

The two of them follow the headmistress into her office, and they immediately spot Gabriella sitting on one of the three chairs set up in front of the grand wooden desk. She smiles at Emelie before moving her eyes to Troy, to which she furrows her eyebrows and turns to her mother incredulously.

“Mom, what’s _he_ doing here?” She asks in a bitter tone, rolling her eyes as her mother sighs.

“Please, just give it a chance, will you? I know what I’m doing,”

“I know you do, Mom. But he doesn’t!” Gabriella exclaims, acting as if Troy isn’t right there to listen to this conversation.

“Give _what_ a chance?” Emelie asks, realizing that her mother and her sister already know what’s going on here while she’s left out of the loop.

“We’re going through with Gabriella’s plan to recruit a new student, and I want all three of you to help me on this one,” Caroline says as she points to the globe that sits on her desk. The small globe is under a constant spell in which it displays all youth supernatural activity as it goes on in the world, and there are several golden dots all over the globe, indicating powerful young beings in all those locations. The bigger the golden spot, the more powerful that potential student is. Caroline flips the globe around so that the three teenagers in front of her can see the prominently glowing dot. It sits right on top of New York City, and all three of them know what’s coming next.

“That’s a nice dot right there. I thought that we’d go to New York City and find out what it is, and if it happens to be someone who’s fit for the school, then we bring them back,” Caroline says, raising her eyebrows at the three in question.

“I’d love to, but I think I’ll opt out,” Gabriella says quietly, picking herself up off the chair and heading toward the door when her mother stops her.

“Gabi, you were the one who presented this idea. Why would you not want to be a part of it?” Caroline asks Gabriella, whose chocolate eyes dart very rapidly from her mother to Troy, and then to her mom again.

“I don’t think I’ll be on any use,” she says simply.

“That’s not true. The more power we have the better, and we certainly need your power,” Caroline says, keeping to herself the fact that she would prefer that Gabriella would go in place of Emelie. Em is a powerful witch, but Gabriella’s always been better somehow, and their mother has most certainly taken notice of it.

“All right, I’m just gonna be outright: I’m not coming if he’s coming. There’s no way either of us are going to get anything done. It’s just gonna be you and Em trying to figure things out while the two of us verbally abuse the hell out of each other,”

“Then I will need both of you to behave. It is only one day, I think you’ll live,”

“No, it’s fine, I think I should go. I hope you guys find what you’re looking for,” Troy says suddenly, also rising from his seat but the headmistress stops him as well. She gets up from the chair and walks into the middle of the room, with all three heads turned to her. She seems angry, and most definitely fed up.

“What is wrong with you two? We need to get new students, and I got the three of you to help because I trust you the most. I will not tolerate this. Either all of you hop onto this train, or none of you. End of discussion,” Caroline says, crossing her arms and watching as the three kids in front of her seem to work things out in their heads.

Gabriella sighs, “Fine, I’ll come. And I’ll behave, too.” She glances at Troy from the corner of her eye, watching him as he clenches his jaw in thought.

“Yeah, I’ll do the same,” he responds softly afterwards. Caroline nods her head in satisfaction before seating her back on her chair.

“You will all be excused from your classes tomorrow, and the four of us will make our way to New York City. We leave at four a.m., so be prepared,” she says with a small smile as the three students nod and make their leave. Troy smiles at Emelie as they exit the headmistress’ office.

“I think this’ll be fun,” he says, to which Emelie responds with a chuckle.

“Yeah, hopefully. If you two keep your tempers, everything will be fine,” she says with a little sigh as she walks forward into the mess hall, grabbing two sheets of the pageant forms she helped create not too long ago. Emelie hands one of the sheets to Gabriella, while Troy hangs back at a small distance.

“Here you go,” she says to her sister, who silently takes the paper and begins to write on it. Troy leans on the wall next to him, looking up at the details on the ceiling. All of the ceilings in the school have carvings and architectural details on them that almost everyone adore. He allows his eyes to come back down to ground level, and they fall right onto the sisters who stands several feet away from him, rapidly filling out their forms and asking each other questions once in a while.

He finds himself unable to tear his eyes away from Emelie. Her caramel brown eyes are lighter than her sister, and her hair falls slick and straight down either side of her face. She has a little chin cleft, and subtle dimples that sharpen a bit when she smiles, which is often. She’s shy, timid, selfless, beautiful, and a very powerful witch when prompted to show off her powers. Troy finds himself developing the smallest of crushes on her, the ones that don’t really mean too much but are enough to revel in. He thinks about how the trip to New York City tomorrow will probably be a great opportunity for them to get closer.

Gabriella can feel someone’s eyes pointed in their direction, and she turns her head suddenly to find that her feeling was true. Troy Bolton’s blue eyes are glaring— no, gazing— at her. No, at them? No.

He’s gazing at Emelie.

She finds her own eyes narrowing as she seethes at the sight, and at the same moment Troy’s eyes flick over to her own, startling her just a tad bit, although she doesn’t show it. Now his gaze is most certainly an angry glare, but there seems to something else happening behind those bright blue pupils of his. She doesn’t care to decipher him; he’d have to matter to her in order for that to happen.

—

“Did you pack snacks?” Emelie asks her mom, who nods her head and smiles at her daughter from the rearview mirror.

“Yep! I actually asked Troy to pack them for us,”

“Not as if he’s going to eat them,” Gabriella says to herself, but loud enough for everyone to hear.

“Oh, like you’re going to eat them?” Troy remarks.

“Did you pack them before or after you decided to FOMO your way onto the trip?”

“As if I wasn’t literally asked to join you? By your mother?”

“I would’ve thought you wanted to spend the day canoodling with all the girls who think pining after you in a good idea,”

“Gabriella, Troy, we’re gonna be in this automobile for six hours, all right? So, no bickering!” Caroline says to both of them, who immediately shut up, until Gabriella can no longer resist keeping her mouth closed.

“It’s a little hot in here,”

“Yeah, same. It’s so hot,” Emelie says, backing her sister up even though she doesn’t feel it’s too hot.

“It’s literally not hot in here?” Troy says to Gabriella.

“Oh, ok then maybe it’s just me,”

“Yeah, with your inability to maintain homeostasis,”

“I swear to god, I was gonna be nice to you. I was actually gonna do it, but now I’m done. That’s over. I’m back to being me,” Gabriella says with an exasperated sigh, turning back to the window. Troy turns to the window as well, and Emelie is sandwiched both comfortably and uncomfortably between her short-tempered sister and the boy who makes her stomach twist with crush anxiety. Oh and of course, these two important people in her life hate each other to death, so of course she’s stuck with being in the middle for mediating purposes.

“Don’t leave me alone in his company, okay?” Gabriella asks Emelie very quietly, her eyes a bit pleading.

“I won’t, why do you think I’m in the middle?” She replies with a small smile.

“Yeah Em, try not to put us through that torture,” Troy adds, making Emelie smile but Gabriella scoff in anger.

“God, are you eavesdropping?”

“This is an SUV! And you’re sitting two seats away from me, what did you expect?” Troy says, shaking his head incredulously before returning his eyes to the window. He leans his head against the glass, and he glances toward the rearview mirror briefly to find Caroline’s eyes on him. She gives him a pitiful look, almost like an apology, before returning her eyes to the road.

 _It must be such a burden to have Gabriella as a daughter. Someone who cannot respect other people, snaps at any moment, has meltdowns over small things, needs treatments and therapy and doesn’t always comply to doctor’s orders, and of course the fact that she just has a crappy personality overall. Having to always apologize on her behalf must be horrible, and embarrassing. God, how is she Emelie’s twin?_ Troy thinks to himself, inwardly rolling his eyes before shutting them tiredly. It’s four in the morning, and he’s exhausted. May as well sleep until the sun comes up.

Troy’s eyes flicker open, and he checks the time on his black-cased iPhone: 9:10 a.m. _Woah, I slept for five hours?_ He thinks to himself in shock, considering he can barely sleep straight throughout the night in his own bed, let alone in a car. He turns his head and spots Emelie sleeping peacefully on Gabriella’s shoulder; he smiles at Emelie’s slumbering self until Gabriella’s tired eyes turn toward him.

“I see you’re awake, it’s been awfully quiet in here. Besides some boring chatter with my mom, of course,” she says, smirking playfully at her mom in the rearview mirror.

“I don’t know, you seemed more into it than I did, honey,” Caroline says to her daughter, chuckling to herself but then allowing the two rivals in the back to engage in their own conversation.

“I slept for five hours, right?”

“You fell asleep when we left, right? Then yes, you did,”

Troy nods, “I don’t really sleep straight, so this is new.”

“I sleep a little too much, but I haven’t been able to get a shred of sleep ever since we sat in car,” Gabriella says, smiling ever-so-slightly at him that it’s nearly unnoticeable, “I guess you stole my sleep, Bolton.” Her voice was softer, unlike its usual tone with him.

“Even though you’d never willingly donate your sleep to me, I guess I have to thank you,” he says jokingly, giving her the same minuscule smile.

Another hour passes and they have officially entered in the heart of Manhattan, New York City. The skyscrapers that were miles away a few minutes ago are now towering right over them as they drive through the street. Gabriella and Emelie look at the sights through the same window, and Troy looks at it though his own window. He feels a bit secluded from them, and obviously it’s as per his request to not have to interact with Gabriella as much. However, he can’t help but have that feeling of loneliness cover him like a rain cloud. It’s a cloudy day in New York City, but the brightness from the jumbotrons and billboards in Times Square make up for it.

Caroline drives the car a bit farther away from the heart, taking them toward older buildings and a neighborhood that is a bit less crowded. She parks the car in a valet that’s nearly full.

“All right, so this is New York City. We need to be careful, and as you can see, I’ve taken us to not exactly the best part of Manhattan. The locator spell tells us that our potential recruit is around here, not near all the pretty screens at Times Square,” she says with a sigh. The three of them nod in response, all of them exchanging looks before walking out of the valet with Caroline (however Gabriella and Troy avoid each other’s eyes).

“He’s there right now,” Caroline points to a worn-out brick building in front of them, “and so that’s where we’re gonna go.” All four of them head off toward the building, crossing the interconnected streets.

“You can smell people or whatever, right?” Gabriella suddenly asks Troy, to which he furrows his eyebrows in confusion.

“That’s random,”

“Just answer the question,”

Troy sighs, “Yes, my werewolf abilities allow me to pick up scents. Why do you care?”

“Can you smell the supernatural being that’s in the building?”

“Yes, I can,” Troy says, keeping to himself that the scent is rather familiar. He may or may not have met this person before, but for some reason his memory isn’t allowing him to remember.

“Do you know what type of supernatural?”

“Not sure— although it may or may not be a vampire,”

“That’s really cool, the scent-picking up thing I mean,” Emelie says, giving Troy a soft smile which he returns.

“Just like your ability to siphon an unlimited amount of energy,” Troy says, leaning into Emelie a little, which makes her body tense up slightly.

She chuckles nervously, “Well yeah, I guess it is.”

“Of course it is! Siphoning is our special thing, Em,” Gabi says to her sister, linking their arms together and pulling her away from Troy. Gabriella looks back at him sourly as he clenches his jaw, realizing that it’ll be a bit more difficult to talk to Emelie than he expected.

They carefully step into the building, and the scent gets stronger in Troy’s nose. He’s sure he’s met this person before, but his brain… it won’t do its job. He can’t remember who this distinct smell belongs to. The four of them eventually find a blonde, slightly shaggy-haired young man, and his back is facing them. Suddenly, a body drops from his arms, the deceased middle-aged man’s neck practically ripped apart. Emelie takes a little small step back as the body hits the ground with a thud, but Caroline, Troy, and Gabriella stand their ground. The first two have seen plenty of this, and Gabriella’s never been afraid of gore. Too many ugly, crazy things in her head, anyway.

The blonde boy turns around, and Troy’s sparkling blue eyes widen slightly. His body freezes up as he examines the young man in front of him. _Oh no._

“Roman?” Troy whispers, making the three women’s heads turn to him, “Roman Sienna?”

“You know him?” Caroline asks Troy, who nods his head very slightly, his eyes still on Roman.

“Troy,” he says, “Troy Bolton. Wow, didn’t expect to see you here! And surrounded with so many beautiful women!” Gabriella narrows her eyes threateningly at the man standing in front of them, and she immediately takes notice of the drop of blood on the corner of his mouth.

“I- you’re in New York now?” Troy asks him, obviously still very surprised.

“Yeah, I mean you know my family,” he says, making Troy’s body become even more rigid than it already was, “they’re far from saints, and obviously so am I. But it became too much for me, so now I roam around.”

“Roman Sienna,” Caroline says in a very authoritative tone, “we’re from the Salvatore Boarding School for the Young and Gifted. I’m the headmistress, Caroline Salvatore. These are my daughters and their friend, Troy, who you seem to already know. We came here to see if you were interested in joining us back in Mystic Falls.”

“A boarding school? Ah, that’s really not my thing,”

“I know it doesn’t exactly sound super appealing. But it’s a safe space for young supernatural beings who can be around their own kind, and become better at controlling their powers. Even enhancing powers, actually,” Gabriella says, trying her best to be friendly although every bone in her body is telling her to do the opposite. Roman gives off the absolute worst vibes, and she honestly wishes that he’ll decline their offer.

Roman purses his lips slightly, “I’ll think about it. Why don’t you tell me a little more? Right after I, um, discard of his body.” He points to the deceased man on the ground behind him. Emelie scrunches up her nose in disgust, following her three travel companions as they walk to the far corner of the room, waiting for Roman to come with them after he’s done.

Thirty minutes pass, and Roman is in deep conversation with Caroline, discussing the different aspects of what the school will offer him. Troy, Gabriella, and Emelie stand off to the side, half-zoned out half-listening. Troy is sitting in between Gabriella and Emelie, both girls distanced from him, but for different reasons. Emelie’s just super nervous; after all, she’s got her biggest crush sitting right next to her. And with Gabriella, it’s the usual. She just doesn’t want to be close to him at all, however she is compelled to ask him about Roman.

“So, you know this guy?” She asks Troy as he turns his head, his blue eyes boring into her. In contrast to the dark atmosphere of the building, his eyes seem bright and cheerful, although that isn’t how he’s feeling.

“Yeah, he was a close friend of mine from before my parents died,” he looks toward Roman, knowing that he’s probably listening to the conversation.

Gabriella catches on, “You don’t have to tell me. I know he can hear.”

Troy shakes his head slightly, “Well, it’s nothing new for him either. He’s fully aware of what his family did.”

With a sigh, he continues, “Roman’s family has had a vendetta against mine for centuries, and his mother convinced him that my family was evil, and that we had to be eradicated. In fact, he was the one that brought the dark energy that consumed me. The energy my parents consumed on my behalf, so that I could live.” His blue eyes darken and gloss over a bit, and Gabriella can’t help but feel an uncomfortable tightness in her throat. The type one feels when they’re desperately holding in a sob.

“Holy shit, _he’s_ the reason behind that?” Emelie says quietly, her eyes wide as she raises up slightly from her seat. Troy nods at her sadly, and then gives Roman yet another dirty look.

“Then- then why are we doing this? Why offer him admission to the school?” Gabriella says, her own anger suddenly on the rise, “We should just get out of here, leave him to the wolves. Who the hell cares anyway?”

“Because he’s different. He was brainwashed. He didn’t really know what he was doing,” Troy says, looking Gabriella directly in her eyes, seemingly getting lost in them for a short moment before snapping out of it.

“You’re making excuses for him?” Gabriella says with a scoff, her eyes narrow.

“I’m not making excuses, Gabriella. That’s the truth,” Troy says, anger swimming quite clearly in his oceanic eyes. At that same moment, Roman and Caroline rise from their seats and make their way over to the three students.

“Guys, Roman will be joining us at the school. And we are so glad to have you, so you can finally start over as you deserve to,” Caroline says with her typical joyful smile. Gabriella wants to scream that he doesn’t deserve it, that he shouldn’t come with them. But she can’t, and so she keeps it to herself. Maybe having Roman at school won’t be totally terrible, because he’ll keep Troy occupied and out of her way.

The five of them begin to make their way to the car, as Roman will be coming with them. He’ll check out the school first, and then get his belongings later on, however he claims that he doesn’t have too much.

“I’ve been roaming around with practically nothing,” he says, which Troy slightly doubts but ignores for the time being.

“I’m gonna get the car, you four wait here,” Caroline says as she makes her way over to the valet. Troy is still standing in between Gabriella and Emelie, with Roman standing behind them. No one makes any conversation. The twins are still trying to process that they’re standing with the boy whose family is responsible for sending the darkness that killed Klaus Mikaelson and Hayley Marshall. Troy’s not in the mood to talk right now, although he knows at some point they’ll have to clean up their drama. And Roman…

Roman suddenly sticks out his foot and swings it at Troy’s ankle, causing him to flip off his feet and fall on his back onto the hard ground. Gabriella and Emelie turn around and gasp in shock.

“Do you guys need a story for when you go back to your little boarding school?” Roman asks the twin sisters condescendingly, “You know, a story for a why Troy Bolton never made it out of New York City…”

By this time, Troy is back up on his feet and throws a punch at Roman, nearly breaking the blonde vampire’s jaw.

“Kicking ankles? Is that how you kill your enemies now, Roman?” Troy spits out bitterly, knowing a huge fight is coming.

“No, that’s only the calm before the storm,” Roman says with a chuckle, the dark red veins sprawling out from under his eyes as his eye sockets turn red. He uses his vampire speed to rush toward Troy, looking to rip his heart out. He doesn’t succeed, as Troy outstretches his arm and Roman is flung off his feet. His body lands several feet away, and the energy of the spell can still be felt in the air.

“You’re such an idiot. You kill me? I’ll only come back as a vampire!”

“Oh please, I know that. But you don’t wanna be a vampire, now do you? You want to be a measly little human, so even though I can’t kill you…” Roman says with an evil laugh, “I can take away your heartbeat. Your ability to coexist amongst humans without wanting to suck their blood. Anything that makes you feel alive, I can take it away. Just like that.”

“You’d have to kill him first,” Gabriella says, stepping up next to Troy, who looks at her and immediately shakes his head.

“Stay out,” he says to Gabriella, slightly shoving her away.

Troy suddenly transforms into his werewolf form, jumping onto Roman and hoping to bite him (for a werewolf bite is fatally poisonous to a vampire), but Roman seems prepared for even that. He immediately pushes Troy’s wolf form off of him, flipping back onto his feet. Troy transforms back into his human form, his hands prepared to conjure up a spell when Roman speeds up into his face, holding something in hands. Troy backs away in utter horror, his respiration rate at an all time high.

“Get that away from me,” Troy says in a low, deep whisper. He carefully watches the little pendent Roman is holding in his hand. Emelie squints her eyes, trying to identify the little item. She suddenly grasps her sister’s forearm when she recognizes it.

“Gabriella, that’s the Devil’s Star!” She aggressively whispers to Gabriella, whose eyes widen in panic at her sister’s words. Roman turns his head slowly and threateningly toward Emelie, piercing his eyes into hers, making her take a step back in horror.

“Yes, little witch, it is. The Devil’s Star, created at the orders of…” Roman raises an eyebrow at Troy, who clenches his jaw in sheer anger and fear.

“Kol Mikaelson. My uncle,” Troy whispers.

“Right, right. And now I will be using your Uncle Kol’s gadget to kill you. The minute I throw it at you, a thousand cuts will appear all around your body, ending your life almost immediately,” Roman says with an evil laugh, drawing his hand back at an incredibly rapid pace, catching Troy entirely off guard.

Gabriella is quicker than Troy, however. She can see the Devil’s Star flying through the air, and outstretches her arm, stopping the star in its tracks mid-air. She grasps her sister’s arm, siphoning her sister’s powers before heading over and grabbing the star in her hands.

“Imperium monstrum!” Gabriella exclaims, causing the dark magic from the Devil’s Star to be contained within her hands. She clasps her hands together and touches them to her chest, closing her hands and she feels the millennia-old dark energy residing under her skin, already consuming her.

“Gabriella!” Emelie yells out, running over to her sister while Roman laughs evilly.

“You can’t contain that for too long, witch. A few minutes, and that power will overwhelm you, unleashing its fatal effects on you,” he turns his head to Emelie, “so don’t be surprised when your sister is covered in a thousand bloody cuts, her eyes vacant as she lies on the concrete… dead.”

It’s Gabriella’s turn to laugh, and just as evilly as Roman, “And don’t _you_ be surprised if you don’t live to see that happen.” She unclasps her hands and releases them from her chest, outstretching her arms straight out toward Roman. The black magic she extracted from the Devil’s Star is now released toward Roman, and there’s no way he can stop it. The magic overtakes him, and a thousand cuts appear all over his body as it hits him at full speed. He yells out in agony, falling to the ground. He writhes for a moment before his body goes still, death replacing the life in his evil, hazel eyes.

Gabriella exhales sharply, brushing a strand of hair away from in front of her face. She feels a wet substances coat her hair and face when she completes the motion, and she looks down at her hands in panic, seeing that they’re all bloody. Her hands got cut in the process of containing the dark energy for what? Forty-five seconds?

“Oh god, Gabi,” Emelie says, pulling her sister into a tight hug, never looking to let her go. Gabriella immediately wraps her arms around Em, closing her eyes in relief.

“It’s okay. I’m okay, you’re okay. Everyone’s okay,” Gabriella says in a shaky voice, her heartbeat at full speed.

“Oh my god, oh my god what happened?” They can hear Caroline’s voice calling out. She uses her vampire speed to rush over to them, holding her daughters’ faces in her hands and hugging them both tightly.

“Roman,” Troy says, taking a deep breath, “he attacked me. He wanted to kill me.” He realizes only five minutes have passed. Everything happened in the span of five minutes. _Woah._

“Gabriella, your head. There’s blood dripping, oh god. And your hands!” Caroline says in sheer panic, tears springing to her eyes and therefore causing her daughter’s eyes to follow suit.

“It’s okay, Mom, please I’m fine,”

“How did all of this blood get here?” She asks her daughter, who takes a deep breath. Before she can respond, Troy speaks up.

“Because she saved my life,” Troy says, looking at Gabriella with his glossy and terrified blue eyes, “Roman somehow obtained my uncle’s Devil’s Star, and he was going to kill me with it. I wasn’t nearly as fast as Gabriella, who stopped the star in mid-air, siphoned its dark magic, and then shot it back at Roman to kill him.” He points to Roman’s scarred, dead body on the ground behind them. Caroline looks at it in sheer anger, a look that even her own daughter have barely seen before.

“If I could kill him all over again, I would,” Caroline says before turning to Troy.

“Honey, are you okay?” Caroline releases her daughters to pull Troy into a hug, who gladly accepts it, closing his eyes in relief as well.

“You’d think that after everything I’ve been through,” Troy says with a shaky laugh, “I’d get used to it.” Caroline pulls him apart and shakes her head in pity.

“You didn’t deserve it. Any of it, and I’m sorry we almost let him into the school,”

“It’s ok, even I didn’t know he’d pull something like that. I’m just glad he’s gone— his entire family is horrible, however I guess he was the worst. Because he was a great liar,” Troy says, closing his eyes and sighing in disappointment. He almost got himself killed because of the same mistake he made years ago; accepting a Sienna’s friendship as if they aren’t one of the most evil families to exist out there.

Gabriella almost died, too. For him.

Troy releases himself from Caroline’s embrace, and moves in front of Gabriella.

“Thank you, for saving my life,” he says to her in a soft tone, looking down at her bloody cut-up hands, “Here, let me fix that.” He takes both of them in his hands, casting a healing spell that causes every cut to heal itself and the blood to stop oozing. He casts another spell right after that causes the blood stains to dissipate from both her hands and her forehead. She looks up at him with her wide, brown eyes.

“Thanks,” she whispers very quietly, extremely unlike her usually confident voice. She walks away from him and back to her mother and sister, telling them she wants to go home. All four of them walk back to the car that Caroline didn’t finish getting, and there was no way she was leaving them alone now. Troy trails behind just a tad bit, letting the two traumatized girls walk on either side of their mother, who’ll definitely do a better job of protecting them than he ever could.

He can’t stop thinking about how he endangered both of them by allowing Roman to enter back into his life, even if it was for a half-hour. Because look at what that half-hour did for him.

They all pile back into the car, this time with Troy in the middle instead of Emelie. No one seems to object, although he’s sure Gabriella would’ve probably said something if they hadn’t just engaged in a life-threatening fight with Roman Sienna.

They arrive at the school after an excruciating six hours in the car, all of their minds wandering to a variety of scenarios of what ifs. Caroline can’t stop thinking about how the three of them got into so much trouble in just five minutes, and how any of them could’ve died. Emelie can’t stop thinking about all the blood and gore she saw, most of it on her own sister, who really put herself at risk without a second thought. _How dare I ever call her selfish?_

Gabriella’s mind keeps thinking about how she really pulled it off. She killed Roman Sienna, the man whose family was behind Troy’s parents’ deaths, two deaths that will always be very prominent in the supernatural world. She can’t help but feel horrified and on-edge, that she’ll have to do it all over again.

Troy’s mind is all over the place. He’s thinking about everything and nothing at once. But mostly, he’s thinking about Gabriella. She really threw herself in the middle to save him. Even though all he’s done his entire life is bully her, never sated by how many insults he threw at her.

He turns to her, watching her stare out of the window.

“Gabriella,” he says softly, making her turn to him, “how did you do it?”

“Which part?” She responds.

“The killing part. You killed Roman. I’ve been trying to do that for so long. The Siennas have been nearly unbeatable, even by the Mikaelsons. And you just— you killed him just like that,” Troy says, realizing that he’s at awe, and quite impressed with her.

“Well, I bet he’s much more naive than the rest of his family. But honestly speaking…” Gabriella sighs, looking Troy directly in his eyes. And that’s when Troy sees it, sparkling in her dark brown eyes.

The psycho. The inner Kai Parker. The fire.

“You just have to be crazy enough for it,” she says, keeping her stare on him for a moment longer before turning back to the window, even though Troy can’t tear his eyes away from her.


	3. Chapter 3

It’s the Saturday before the Miss Mystic Falls Pageant, and the Salvatore School has one week to get everything ready. However, before they can focus on the pageant entirely, they’ve got one more very important and highly anticipated event to cover.

The Montez twins’ birthday, which just happens to be today.

“Navy blue! It’s freaking navy! Not royal!” Gabi says aggressively to Landon, who’s carrying a box of royal blue decorations for the banquet hall.

“I got the navy!” MG says cheerfully as he walks in holding navy blue decor, making Gabi’s scowl immediately turn into a wide smile!

“Yay!” Gabriella exclaims, taking the box from MG just as Emelie walks in, wearing a long-sleeved dark blue sweater and a white collared shirt underneath. She has paired her sweater with a black button-down skirt, black stockings, and dark blue sneakers.

“Navy blue?” Em asks, and Gabi furrows her eyebrows.

“Yes, of course! Do you not like navy?”

“I would’ve preferred something brighter. I mean navy is one of the school’s colors…”

“And I love the school’s colors!”

“What about the colors _I_ love?” Emelie spits back, taking Gabriella by surprise.

“I- I’m sorry. I didn’t know you hated navy blue so much,” Gabi says with a tired sigh, “so what color would you prefer instead?”

“I- I don’t really know,” Emelie says quietly, to which Gabriella groans.

“Then why argue? If you can’t choose another color, then navy blue it is,”

“Give me some more time,”

“Today _is_ our birthday, and so is the party. We don’t have time—“

“Maybe if we had sit and planned this out together beforehand, like we should have…”

“Maybe if I hadn’t been so busy trying to get Roman Sienna’s dead body out of my head, we would have,” Gabriella says in a very low but threatening tone.

“Birthday girls, please,” they can hear Troy’s voice saying as he approaches them from the side, “let’s not fight on your special day.”

“Get the hell out of here, Troy,” Gabriella says bitterly.

“Am I not invited to your school-wide birthday party?” He responds with a smirk.

“Unfortunately, we couldn’t leave you out. But right now, there is no party. We’re setting everything up, and we don’t need useless beings to stand in our way. Now, if you’ll excuse me—“ Gabriella says, shoving Troy a little bit at the shoulders as she passes him, exiting the banquet hall.

“I thought you guys would be nicer to each other after everything that happened on Tuesday,” Emelie says in a tired tone, and Troy’s eyes soften when he looks at her.

“Well, I’m trying. She’s not really making an effort, though,” he says, and Emelie nods as she remembers what Gabriella told her last week. About her trying to be his friend repeatedly, but him not making an effort.

“She’s having a hard time getting over Tuesday, that’s for sure. And that’s expected, but she’s also…” Emelie trails off as Troy raises his eyebrows at her in question.

“Being a control freak?” He finishes for her with a little chuckle.

“No, not really. I mean- uh… all right. Yes,” Emelie breathes out, “Yes she is.”

Troy laughs softly again, “No offense, but your sister’s always like that. She is… kind of a dumpster fire.” He winces jokingly, and Emelie can’t help but chuckle in response.

“Maybe dumpster fire’s a little harsh— you said you were trying to be nicer,” she says with a little eyebrow raise, and Troy raises his hands in defense while smiling.

“Ok, ok. I apologize greatly for calling your sister a dumpster fire, even though she very much is one,”

Emelie sighs, continuing to smile slightly at him, “She just needs support and treatment. It’s a personal journey, but it’s also up to those around her to help her.”

“She doesn’t really let people help her, though. And by ‘those around her’ you quite obviously mean you, don’t you?” He asks her softly, looking at her in a pitiful manner at makes her insides melt.

“Not just me, but yeah I’m the person that’s with her _all_ day so…”

Troy bites his bottom lip for a short moment, “That’s not fair to you.”

“It’s been my entire life,” Emelie says with a sigh, “and it’s definitely been tiring. She just doesn’t do as told. I know that a lot of it has to do with misunderstandings, the fact that other people don’t really understand what she’s going through, including myself.” Troy continues to look at her with pity.

“But sometimes it feels as if she doesn’t want to help herself,” Emelie says suddenly and more aggressively, causing Troy to furrow his eyebrows almost dubiously, “As if she wants to stay sick, you know, for atte—“

“As if I want to stay sick?” Gabriella whispers threateningly, standing right in front of them at a distance. Emelie’s eyes widen immediately, and Troy’s body goes rigid. _How long has she been standing there?_ Both of them think simultaneously.

Gabriella’s eyes are watery as she glares at her sister, “So this is what you do now? You talk shit about me, and of all things, about my mental health, to other people. To people like him? Troy Bolton?” She shakes her head and allows the box of navy blue decor to fall from her hands, hitting the ground with a violent thud. Gabriella storms out of the hall, leaving Troy and Emelie stuck in their spots.

“I- I’m sorry I shouldn’t have sa—“ Emelie begins, but Troy holds up his hand.

“Let’s just not say anything more about it. I think that’s best,” he mumbles, avoiding Emelie’s eyes and walking out of the banquet hall as well, however he uses the other exit to avoid running into Gabriella.

Emelie follows Gabriella, guessing she probably went out to their quarters. However, she runs into Gabi in the hallway, as she’s talking quite cheerfully to one of their friends, Alyssa Chang. Penelope Park stands nearby, leaning subtly on the wall but winking at Emelie when she approaches the scene.

“Yep, I’m super excited for _my_ birthday party. Do you know what you’re going to wear?” Gabriella asks Alyssa, who nods her head with a smile.

“I’ve had it planned for weeks,” she responds, noticing Emelie standing there a moment later, smiling at her as well.

“Happy birthday, Em!” Alyssa says to Emelie, who ignores her all together, glaring at Gabriella.

“ _Your_ birthday party? It’s my party, too. It’s my goddamn birthday, too,” she says to Gabi, who smirks bitterly.

“It was… until you decided that I’m purposely _trying_ to suffer from bipolar disorder. As if it’s some sort of new online trend,” she turns to Alyssa, “Did you know that, Alyssa? That my own sister decided to tell my worst enemy that I’m _trying_ to be bipolar? And all on my birthday, too!” Gabriella smiles widely but obviously sarcastically, her eyes glossing over yet again as she walks toward the door, heading toward the witch quarters. Emelie angrily follows her out of the main campus and into the quarters, noticing immediately that no one else is there.

“Are you having some sort of manic episode today?” Gabriella says to Emelie, turning around and leaning most of her weight on her right foot.

“As if I’m the one out of the two of us that has manic episodes,”

Gabriella scoffs, “All right fine, so it just seems that you’re feeling a little extra ableist, today.”

“I’m not trying to ableist! I’m not trying to insult you, or your mental health! I’m just so utterly fed up with your attitude being different every hour. You say one thing at 9 in the morning, and then you’ve completely switched sides by 10. I cannot do this anymore, carrying your baggage for you and just going along with it, never giving my own preferences and desires a single thought! I am 17 years old today, and I deserve to celebrate my birthday the way I want, and finally live the way I’ve wanted to my entire life!” Emelie says all in one breath, her usually soft voice loud and strong, ringing through the stone wings of the witch quarters. Gabriella stands stiff in her spot on the ground, unable to move.

“So what do you want me to do? Apologize? Move out? Just tell me and I’ll do it, because I’m also quite fed up with you giving me your ‘I’m so selfless and you’re not’ speech every few weeks,” Gabriella says in a rather calm voice, surprising herself as she’s usually the one having a screaming match.

“You’re a bitch, Gabriella,” Emelie says, her voice cracking, “I’m giving you the same speech over and over again because there’s a problem. We have a problem, and neither of us are doing anything to fix it. But I’ve decided that I’m going to fix it, as I should have a long time ago.”

“How? What are you going to fix?” Gabriella asks, raising her eyebrows, “My bipolar disorder? Only I can get myself out of that.”

“Then get yourself out of it! Take your medications! Eat your food properly! Be friendly with people and stop wasting your energy by fighting with Troy Bolton!”

“God, Emelie! What the hell does Troy Bolton have to do with this? And who are you to tell me to take my medications and eat my food?”

“I am your sister!”

“And that is none of your business! It will never be your business. There are reasons behind everything I do, and only I will understand them,”

“Well whatever mental plan you’ve made for your bipolar disorder, it’s not working. So think up a new plan, or maybe listen to those around you. Listen to me. Take our advice and let us help you,”

“You are _not_ helping me by talking shit about me to Troy!” Gabriella exclaims, her voice definitely louder than Emelie’s now, enough to make her twin sister step back a bit in fear, “He already called me witch bipolar when I was thirteen! It was horrible! I had a manic episode, thought the next day people would be sympathetic toward me, but they were all saying I was witch bipolar, and the rumor eventually got traced back to that stupid asshole!

“And now that you’ve told him that I _want_ to be sick, he’s going to use that all the time! He’s going to rub it in my face, throw it into conversations with other people, and make sure my living hell of a life turns into a complete wildfire!”

“Your life is already a wildfire, Gabriella!”

“Then so be it! I will put out my fire when I’m ready, but you will not rush me, or spread rumors about me, or make me feel guilty about having trouble with my brain chemistry. Something that is out of my goddamn control!”

“What an amazing 17th birthday this is,” Emelie spits out bitterly, storming out of the quarters as Gabriella makes her way upstairs.

“It will be,” Gabriella tells herself at the top of the stairs, deciding that she will not let this ruin her birthday. She needs at least a day to enjoy herself, and not even her twin sister, who should be celebrating with her, can ruin it for her.

Unlike her sister, however, Emelie declares the day as officially destroyed as she walks back toward the main campus, unsure of why she’s going back amongst the navy blue decor anyway.

Gabriella closes the dorm room door behind her with a slam, taking a deep breath. The breath isn’t enough. There isn’t enough air going into her lungs.

_No please, not right now._

She drags herself to the edge of her bed, seating herself to catch her breath but being unable to do so. The restlessness gets the best of her, and so she jerks up off the bed yet again, pacing around the room.

“Stop, Gabriella. Stop,” she tells herself, thinking about how Troy’s probably already telling everyone about how she wants to be bipolar. About how even that little shred of confidence and reputation she has left will be snatched away from her.

“Just stop!” She yells, clenching her fists and causing all the vases in the room to shatter. A chain reaction is set off: she flicks her wrist to make all of the books violently fly out of her shelf; she engages her arms in a motion that causes the bookshelf itself to fall over. The sheets are undone, the pillows are scattered around the floor, the neat clutter on Gabriella’s dresser is now sprawled all over the surface and the ground, and the room is overall a mess.

In the midst of her meltdown, not a single thing of Emelie’s was touched, however the mess she created has overlapped onto Emelie’s side of the room just a bit. Gabriella’s hair is slightly disheveled, but she can feel her heartbeat finally slowing down, however it’s still loud and rapid in her chest.

She can feel the already-pooled tears in her eyes beginning to slip down her cheek rapidly, more tears already on their way. With one last look at the unkempt room, she leaves the room, aggressively swinging the door behind her and hoping it shuts all the way.

The culinary team has been making different milkshakes for the birthday party, and Emelie manages to get one for herself in order to cope with her fiasco with Gabriella. She sits on the steps of the auditorium, some of her friends sitting around her. She has gotten them milkshakes too, and one extra in case a special someone shows up.

“Hey birthday girl,” Penelope’s voice rings out in the auditorium as she approaches the elegant staircase. Emelie rolls her eyes in response, although she notices a small cupcake in Penelope’s hands.

“What do you want, Penelope?” She asks rather bitterly, but Penelope’s flirtatious and cheerful mood does not falter.

“I brought you a cupcake as a sweet treat,” she hands Emelie the wonderfully frosted cupcake before handing her an aesthetically bound envelope with the red Salvatore School wax seal.

“That’s a fancy envelope,” Emelie remarks more to herself as Penelope stirs almost nervously in her spot.

“I made sure to make it as beautiful as it could be— only the best for my best girl, of course,”

“Best girl?” Emelie scoffs, “We’re over, Penelope. You haven’t gotten any less condescending, meaning I haven’t gotten any closer to taking you back. Just let it go.”

“Well anyway, the envelope contains a letter. I just want you to read it by at least next Saturday,”

Emelie raises an eyebrow, “As in, by the day of the pageant?” Penelope silently nods, smiling sweetly at her.

Without returning the smile, Emelie tucks the envelope in her bag, “I’ll read it when I can.” Penelope’s smile turns into a thin line as she silently turns around and walks away. No remarks. No extra comments. No sexual implications.

Just an envelope for her best girl.

“Troy,” Penelope says as she leaves the room, smiling at him as he passes her.

“Penelope,” he says, nodding his head a little, entering the auditorium and immediately catching Emelie’s eye. He smiles softly at her, and Emelie’s eyes brighten at the sight.

“Hey,”

“Hey,” he responds, standing in front of her as she stays seated on the staircase, sipping her milkshake.

“I’m really sorry about before.”

“I guess that’s not really my apology to accept,” Troy says quietly, looking down to the floor for a moment. A part of him feels like what was said… never should’ve been said. Regardless of how he feels about Gabriella, no one deserves that.

“It’s not as if she accepted it,” Em says with a slight roll of her eyes. Her attitude is different today, and it comes off as a bit of a surprise to Troy, who had expected she would’ve been a little more mellowed by now.

“She’ll come around,” he says simply, looking to change the topic of the conversation quickly, “Anyway, what are you up to?”

“Nothing, just having a milkshake. Oh and my satanic ex was here a minute ago,”

Troy laughs, “Yeah, I met her on the way in.”

“She gave me a cupcake. And a letter,” Emelie says with an exasperated sigh.

“A letter? Oh no,” Troy says, making Emelie laugh softly.

“Yeah I hope there’s nothing too horrible in it. She very much wants me to read it though,”

“What does it even say? Check this box if you wanna kill me, check this box if you wanna kiss me?” Troy jokes, making Emelie laugh yet again, this time a bit louder. He’s always been incredibly charming, knowing exactly what to say regardless of the situation.

“It may as well, but eh. I’ll read it when I can,” she says, waving her hand in the air dismissively. She turns her head a little and is reminded of the extra milkshake she had gotten for a special someone. A special someone named Troy Bolton.

“Oh! I almost forgot, I got you a milkshake from the kitchen. They’re not giving them out until the party tonight, but obviously I have special rights today,” Emelie says with a giggle, a sound that makes Troy smile. He accepts the milkshake from her hand, but his brain is already rejecting it. Soon enough, his stomach is clenching at the idea of putting anything in it, let alone anything sweet.

“Thank you, I’ll have it in a bit,” he lies to her with a small smile, “I’m gonna go to my room for a bit. See you later?” Emelie nods in response, but she stops him again.

“Wait! Sorry, I forgot another thing. Gabriella went up to our room too, so she might be there. Just a warning in case she’s sitting there with a fireball prepared in her hand,” Emelie rolls her eyes again, but Troy simply nods as he silently makes his way out.

He crosses the great lawn toward the stone building in the middle, starting to worry just a little bit that Gabriella will be there. He doesn’t really know how to feel after their morning exchange; he got stuck in the crossfire between the two sisters, and now he’s got to deal with it. As much as he likes to be in Em’s company, he wishes he wasn’t there at that particular moment.

Troy climbs the stone staircase up to the rooms, walking far into the main hallway until reaching his room. He looks behind him to see that the twins’ room door is left slightly ajar. He plans on ignoring it as it’s not his business, until he spots a shard of glass sitting by the door.

_Oh no._

Troy carefully steps toward the door, pushing it slightly with his fingertips. His eyes widen at the sight of the room inside, which is utterly and entirely shambolic. He immediately takes notice of the fact that it seems any glass vases in the room have shattered, especially as the flowers that were inside are now on the ground. The entire bookshelf is lying flat on the ground, and there are perhaps fifty-something books of all sizes all over the ground. He thinks about who could have possibly done to this to their room on their birthday… until he realizes that not a single thing on Emelie’s side is destroyed. If someone were to sabotage their room, the mess would probably be everywhere, not just on one side. Troy swallows as the realization hits him.

_Gabriella._

Troy walks into the room for the first time, making sure not to step on any shards of glass that could puncture his shoes. He starts with the bookshelf; he doesn’t even bother with a spell as his werewolf strength is enough for him to effortlessly lift the huge wooden structure up with his one arm. He sets it back up against the wall, next moving onto the books on the ground.

Facing both of his palms upward and out in front of him, he says, “Casso tor.” The telekinesis spell allows him to control every book on the ground with his upward-facing palms, which he then lifts slightly and moves in the direction of the bookshelf. The books place themselves on the shelf, although probably not in the same order as before.

“Icaeus,” he casts yet another telekinesis spell so all of the glass shards rise into the air as well, and these he hovers over the little trash can, dropping his hands to cause the shards to fall right into the trash. The room looks much better than it did before, and the remaining disheveled things in the room he picks up with his bare hands, throwing them out or placing them carefully on Gabriella’s dresser.

He’s about to leave the room subtly when a smaller figure slams into his hard chest.

The other person looks up at him, mortified to see him coming out of her room.

“Troy?” Gabriella says with an incredulous look, “what were you doing in my room?” She doesn’t seem necessarily angry, just incredibly shocked at him coming out of her room at the exact moment she was about to walk.

“I swear I didn’t mean to intrude,” he says, taking note of her eyes, which are red and glossy.

“Well you did,” she responds, her voice still not angry but rather tired, “so how many people did you tell?” Troy furrows his eyebrows in confusion.

“Tell what?”

“About what Emelie told you. About wanting to be sick, and whatnot,” she says in a soft tone that is still full of bitterness, just less aggressive than before.

“I’d never tell that to anyone, Gabriella,” he says, making her look up into his eyes. She holds their gaze for a moment before chuckling softly.

“Don’t act like you haven’t done it before. As if you’re a whole new person now, because you’re not. You’re still the same person that went around and told everyone that I was witch bipolar,” she says, expecting him to either look at her in anger or in guilt.

He does neither, as he instead backs up in the shock.

“I did what?” He whispers, looking at her in disbelief.

“You told everyone that I was witch bipolar,” she says in a quiet whisper, her glossy eyes now welled up with tears as she clenches her jaw, holding back a sob. She hates crying in front of others, but the hardest hit to her dignity must be crying in front of Troy Bolton, of all people.

Troy shakes his head slightly, furrowing his eyebrows, “I would _never_ do that.” He swallows hard, taking in her appearance. It’s unlike the way she normally appears in front of his eyes: the fire in her eyes is gone, the confidence in her stance is nowhere to be seen.

“They- they were all making fun of my episode. And everything pointed to you,” Gabriella says quietly, looking down at the ground and scanning it, as if thinking very hard, “if you didn’t then who did?”

“I don’t know, but it wasn’t me. I would not do that to anyone,”

“We’re different, though. We’ve been at each other’s throats our entire lives—“

“It doesn’t matter. I can’t imagine spreading a rumor like that about you,” Troy says, watching as a small tear fights its way out of Gabriella eye socket and rolls slowly down the side of her cheek. Troy takes a very minuscule step toward Gabriella, sighing slightly.

“With a father and family like mine, I’m not immune to those issues myself. Far from it, actually. I don’t take it lightly, and I would never make fun of you for it. At least…” he averts his eyes downward, “not to such an extent. Because I know I have said things about your mental health before, and you know that too. But I’d never say such a terrible thing about you.”

He looks back up and finds her teary eyes looking straight into his, “I believe you.” Her voice is small, quiet, and very unlike its normal state. But it’s enough for him to hear, and his lips can’t help but form the smallest of smiles.

“You never answered my question, Bolton,” she says with a sniffle, a small smile on her face as well as she wipes her tear, “what were you doing in my room?”

“Oh, well the door was left slightly open, and there was a shard of glass…” he pauses as the color drains from her face, which is already a little more pale than usual.

“So you saw what I did? The mess I made?” Gabriella closes her eyes and shakes her head as if disappointed with herself.

“Yeah, so I just went inside…” Troy trails off slightly, his mind suddenly thinking about how it’s her birthday, and that maybe she’ll enjoy a little surprise, “and I lowkey did intrude. I just looked at the mess and left, and that’s when I bumped into you. I can help you clean it up, if you want.”

Gabriella shakes her head, “No, it’s fine. I got it.” He moves a bit to allow her to pass through the doorframe and into the room. She has her eyes on the floor, and she reluctantly moves them upward to view the room, expecting everything to be in shambles.

She stops at the edge of the door, in total shock.

“E-everything is exactly how it was before… how did thi-“ she begins to say quietly, before turning her head toward Troy, “You already cleaned it up, didn’t you?” He smiles just a little bit, nodding his head subtly.

“Yeah, I did. But it’s not _exactly_ as it was before, I mean Jane Austen is next to Suzanne Collins on the bookshelf, and I have a feeling that’s not how you had it before.” He smirks at her slightly, watching as her lips curl into yet another minuscule smile.

“Thank you,” she says softly, and he silently nods, accepting her thanks.

“It’s not a big deal. A few telekinesis spells did the trick,” he chuckles a little, and much to his surprise she lightly chuckles back.

“Yeah well I could’ve done the telekinesis spells myself, but now I don’t have to. So thank you, it made my crappy birthday just a little bit better.”

“On that note, are you guys still having the party today?” He asks carefully.

“We are, it’s still on. I don’t really know if Emelie’s attending or not, but I also don’t really care,” Gabi says, her usual arrogance sneaking its way back into her words, “I want to enjoy my birthday, even if it’s just a few hours at the end of the day.” Troy nods at her silently, hoping that Emelie does join. It would be nice if they both attended their own birthday party, and if they got over their differences for just this one day. Their special day.

“I’m gonna go to my room now,” Troy says kind of awkwardly, shifting his weight on his ankles for a moment.

Gabriella nods, “Yeah, that’s cool. I’m gonna stay here for a bit as well, uhm, see you at the party. You’re coming, right?” She suddenly wants him to be there, and while she kind of hates this newfound feeling, she also doesn’t mind it.

“Of course I am,” he says with a small smile as he walks toward his room. His wolf abilities cause his to turn to a rather sweet scent, resting on the floor next to the door. His eye catches on the milkshake that Emelie gave him, which he rested on the floor before going into the twins’ dorm room. He picks it up, the thought of drinking making him feel sick.

“Hey, uh, Gabriella?” He asks just as she’s about close her door, “I have this milkshake, and I don’t really want it. Would you like it?” She looks at the milkshake, and then moves her eyes over to his blue ones.

“I don’t really, um- I don’t really have sweet things as much, you know, uh—“

Troy stops her, noticing she’s incredibly uncomfortable, “It’s ok, I understand. You don’t have to explain yourself, I’m actually the same way. That’s the reason why I don’t want it either.” He chuckles, looking at the milkshake and wincing, making Gabriella smile slightly.

She shuts the door gently as he does the same with his, both of them sitting on the edge of their beds for a moment, thinking about how things don’t have to suck between them. Maybe the other isn’t that bad.

Just maybe, all of the hate isn’t worth it.

 _Damn it, Em. You were right._ Gabriella thinks to herself, throwing her body back onto her bed, which is neatly made as a result of Troy’s series of telekinesis spells.

Both of them rise from their beds, compelled to open the door and make peace with the other.

 _No, just leave her alone. She probably doesn’t wanna talk to you anymore._ Troy tells himself, however his body takes him forward toward the door. Little does he know that Gabriella is doing the same.

Both of their doors fly open at once, startling the other a bit as they end up standing in front of each other.

“I want to ask you something,” Gabriella says, biting her bottom lip a bit.

“Same here,” Troy says quietly, stepping out of his room as she does the same.

“Both of us nearly died on Tuesday,”

“And you saved me,”

“And today, you’ve told me the truth about something that’s been nagging at me for years,”

“And I’m sorry,”

“I’m sorry too,”

Troy and Gabriella look at one another, silent as they process each other’s words.

“So…” Troy starts, “can we be friends? Or acquaintances, at least? Just not enemies anymore.”

Gabriella purses her lips, “We can try it out.” She smirks at him slightly, and he can’t help but roll his eyes.

“And what if we don’t like it? Back to the daily insults?”

“Who said we’re gonna stop the insulting in the first place? Most of it’s amusing anyway,” Gabriella crosses her arms across her chest, shifting her weight onto her left foot.

“Fine, acquaintances with a few insults a day. Are you good with that?” He asks, a small smirk appearing on his face as well.

“Sure,” And just like that, both of them enter their rooms and close the doors.

_Whatever just happened, let’s hope it sticks._

—

Emelie sits on the bench in the school garden, using her powers to help a small flower next to bench bloom on her command. Usually the sight makes her smile, but not today. She genuinely can’t believe this is how she’s spending her birthday, alone in a garden, not attending her own party, her sister absolutely enraged at her. And of course her also being just as enraged at her sister.

Speaking of the devil, Gabriella carefully steps into the garden, sensing Emelie’s presence and following it to the little stone bench at the very back. She stops a little distance after from her sister, both of them silently looking at one another.

“I’m about to get ready for the party. It’s almost sundown, and it’ll be starting soon,” Gabriella says, biting the corner of her bottom lip.

Emelie pulls her lips into a thin line, “Have fun with that.”

Gabriella sighs, “Em, please. I want you to come. This is our birthday party.”

“That’s not what you said this morning,”

“Well we were both angry as hell, and I have a feeling you still are, but this is our birthday. It doesn’t matter what comes out of my foul, unfiltered mouth. Today is the day we were born, and we both deserve a celebration,” Gabriella says, her eyes pleading.

Emelie looks at her sister closely before letting out a sigh, “I want to, but I can’t stand the bickering. The conflict. The shit that always goes down at parties in this school.”

“Yeah, most of it being my fault, as usual,” Gabriella says quietly, keeping her eyes down to the ground in shame, “I had a meltdown, today. I didn’t see it coming, but when I went up to our room, I just lost it. I shattered a bunch of glass, knocked over my bookshelf, scattered my sheets.” Emelie’s eyes are no longer narrow slits, but rather wide and pitiful as she listens to Gabriella recall the events of the day.

“I left the room for an hour, and I didn’t even know that I accidentally left the door ajar. And then… Troy found my mess,” she says, to which Emelie widens her a little in horror, “and he cleaned it up for me. Everything in our room is tidy and neat, except we lost all of the glass vases considering I broke them.”

“He cleaned it up?” Emelie asks softly, unable to contain her little smile at his generosity.

“Yeah, he did. And apparently he never spread a rumor about me being witch bipolar. It was a false analysis of the situation, and all these years I’ve been wrong. He’s definitely an arrogant Mikaelson, but maybe not as much of an asshole as I thought,” Gabriella says with a little smile, one that takes Emelie aback.

“Did you tell him this?”

“Well not literally what I told you, but we kind of patched things up. He offered me a milkshake or whatever, and then we made a peace pact. We’re going to try to coexist civilly, but I still don’t know him too well. I just know that he isn’t heartless— so I’m just gonna start from there,” Gabriella looks at her sister, who’s smiling but her eyes a bit hazy.

“I’m glad you guys worked it out… so he gave you a milkshake?”

“Yeah, said he didn’t want it. I declined because I don’t really eat or drink sweet things, but um, it was a little awkward, not gonna lie,” Gabi says with a laugh, to which Emelie chuckles softly.

 _He gave my milkshake to her._ She thinks to herself, letting her mind wander to a place it doesn’t want to. She pulls herself out by reminding her that they’re not even friends yet, just not enemies. No big deal, right?

Gabriella pulls Emelie off to their room, getting both of them ready. They both put on their dresses that they’ve had planned for weeks, doing their own makeup but helping each other when they need it. Caroline walks in to check in on them as they’re almost done getting prepared, smiling at her daughters.

“Wow, I can’t believe my babies are 17 already,” she says with a laugh, the twins beaming at their mother.

“It’s only 17,” Gabriella says with a playful roll of her eyes. She’s dressed in a navy blue spaghetti-strap dress that goes up to her ankles. The fabric is loose and flowy, and there are slits that go up to her thigh. Her hair is straight down as it usually is, but she made sure to straighten it more so that those natural waves that appear at the ends aren’t there to ruin the look. Her makeup is subtle but sparkly, and the corners of her eyelids are covered in a sparkly silver eyeshadow that complements her dress.

“Right, it’s not as if we’re old or something,” Emelie says with a giggle. She’s dressed in a navy blue dress as well, except hers is a classic off-the-shoulder dress with the ruffled hem that goes up to her mid-thigh. Her makeup is subtle as well, however more than Gabriella’s as there isn’t too much sparkle on her face. Em has her head up in a bun, with thick strands of her luscious, straight hair falling perfectly on either side of her face.

“Well, to me it’s a long time. It’s been a whole seventeen years since you two were handed to me in the hospital. So small and delicate… and looking absolutely nothing like me!” Caroline says the last part in an awfully cheer tone, making the girls burst out laughing.

“Time to go?” She says to her daughters, who both nod and follow their mother out of the room.

The banquet hall is entirely filled, with almost every single student at the party. Gabriella and Emelie are most certainly the most popular students in school, most certainly as a result of their mother being the headmistress, which also makes them the most involved in almost all events and happenings around the school. Everyone is awaiting their entrance, which will be at any moment.

Troy walks around in the crowd, speaking to people here and there, smiling at girls and making their insides turn into mush. He bumps into MG, whose turning out to be a pretty good friend of his.

“How’s everything going?” MG asks Troy, who smiles.

“Eh, ok I guess. You?”

“Great! Are you going to the pageant next weekend?”

Troy chuckles, “Well, it _is_ at our school.”

“Right, but we don’t have to actually be here during the event,”

“Yeah well I’m gonna attend, especially since it was my idea to host it here anyway,”

“I might attend, depends on how I’m feeling,” MG says with a shrug.

“Ah look, don’t tell anyone,” Troy says, feeling as if he’s got to tell someone about his plan, “I wanna ask Emelie if I can be her escort.” MG laughs and puts his hand on Troy’s shoulder.

“Dude just go for it, I bet she’ll be thrilled. She seems to be crushing on you anyway,” MG says, to which Troy turns his head with a little smile.

“Really?”

MG laughs again, “Please don’t tell me you haven’t noticed!”

“I mean I have, but I thought I may or may not have been imagining it,” Troy says, returning MG’s laugh. She might actually like him back, and he’s definitely happy hearing it from someone else’s mouth.

The entire room suddenly erupts in cheers, causing him to turn his head toward the large stone staircase along with everyone else. The two birthday girls emerge in their navy blue dresses, and Troy can’t help but smile at the sight.

“I swear to god, I love this feeling!” Gabriella squeals to a beaming Emelie as they make their way into the party, everyone looking at them and cheering and wishing them a happy birthday.

Troy makes his way toward the front of the crowd, smiling at the two girls. Gabriella still has to get used to Troy smiling at her in a genuine way, no condescending or sarcastic intention behind it.

“Happy birthday,” he says to Emelie, smiling at her sweetly and giving her a hug. Emelie accepts his embrace and momentarily closes her eyes, her head resting on his chest for he’s much taller than both her and her sister.

He separates from Emelie and almost anxiously moves toward Gabriella, whose dress immediately gets his attention. The navy blue dress hangs down in slits that reveals her slender legs, and her collarbone is bared as the spaghetti straps do not cover much. He quickly takes note of how she has accented all of her bone structures with shimmering makeup: her cheekbones, her nose, her collarbone, and the corners of her eyes.

“Happy birthday,” he says to Gabriella in a quieter tone, both of them smiling tightly at each other. This is new for both of them, and very strange.

“Thank you,” she replies, waiting for him to do something other than awkwardly stand in front of her.

“Too soon for hugs, right?” he asks with a nod.

“Oh yeah, definitely,” she replies, chuckling slightly and causing him to do the same. He takes another look at Em before moving out of their way and allowing others to greet them as well.

The party advances into the evening, with the headmistress, dressed in fine clothing herself in honor of her daughters’ birthday, closing shop at 11 pm. Everyone danced all night, gave presents to the special twins, and ate lots of cake (everyone except for Gabriella and Troy).

Troy waits by the French doors of the banquet hall, waiting for everyone to leave. Gabriella and Emelie are the last in the hall, but soon Gabriella makes her way to their quarters as well. Emelie is left alone in the vast room, just as he had hoped.

He’s about to emerge from behind the doorframe and approach Emelie when Penelope beats him to it, walking toward Emelie from the other entrance of the hall.

“You called?” Penelope says with a little smile.

“Yes,” Emelie pulls out the envelope she received earlier from Penelope, “I read the letter.”

Penelope wiggles her eyebrows, “Ooh, that was quick. But I’m glad, how’d you like it?” The confidence in her voice is steady, however her body language shows that she’s a bit anxious. Troy wonders what can possibly be in that letter, making Penelope Park, of all people, to act nervous.

“Everything you said about me… about getting the attention and love I deserve? I don’t know what else to say except thank you,” Emelie says with a small smile, “but I can’t just let you back in like that, Penelope. You claim that you’ll change for me, and fight for me. But you have to show me first that you’re capable of it. And because you need the opportunity… I guess I have no choice but let you be my escort for the pageant.” Penelope’s face breaks out into a huge grin, as does Emelie’s.

“Yes! You can take your time, Em. But thank you for letting me be your escort, it is _quite_ the honor,” she says with a chuckle.

“Don’t screw it up again, Penelope. And all that stuff about making sure I take care of myself and get my dreams fulfilled too…” Emelie sighs, but then smiles lovingly at Penelope, “I really appreciate that.” Penelope leans in and kisses Emelie tenderly on the cheek.

“Anything for my best girl,” she says softly, stroking Emelie’s hair before they both go to their separate quarters.

Troy stays in his spot behind the doorframe, running his tongue along the inside of his cheek. He honestly did not expect that: Emelie accepting Penelope as her escort. Whatever was in that letter must have been pretty compelling. He shakes his head at himself, scolding himself for thinking this was ever going to work out, before taking himself to the witch quarters.

There are still students roaming around in the main lobby, dressed in suits like his own and dresses like those of Gabi and Em. He flashes them his charming smile before heading up to his room, more students continuing to roam every hall. He stops in front of his door, about to unlock it and walk in when he sees Gabriella approaching from the side.

Gabriella has already changed out of her blue dress, although the sparkly makeup is still prominent on her face. She’s wearing black sweatpants and a cropped white t-shirt, revealing her defined abs just a slightest.

“Hey,” he says softly, giving her yet another miniature upturn of the lips.

“Hey,” she says, “did you like the party?”

“It was fun, yeah,” he says with a little chuckle, looking down at the ground before looking back up at her.

“Was the cake good?” She asks, and his smile fades a bit.

“I actually didn’t have it. I’m sorry, I wanted to but uh—“

“Neither did I. That’s why I was asking you, just wanted to make sure it wasn’t bad or anything,” she says, giving him a tight-lipped smile.

He furrows his eyebrows a little, “You didn’t have your own birthday cake?” She simply shakes her head in silence, looking down at the ground. He makes a mental note to himself not to bring up eating or food in general, since she seems uncomfortable with the topic. _Kinda like you._ He thinks to himself silently.

“Well, anyway, goodnight,” she says quietly, heading off to her own room but stopping at the sound of his voice.

“I never gave you my present,” he says, frowning a little.

She waves it off, “Oh no, please. Don’t worry about that.”

“Oh well, I don’t have to. Because I already have your present, I just didn’t give it to you yet,” he says with a smile, “Wait here.” He unlocks his room and rushes inside, going to his own bookshelf and pulling out his copy of “Pride and Prejudice” by Jane Austen. His Aunt Rebekah, a natural romantic, had snuck it away in his bag when he had gone to visit them back in New Orleans once. The copy was a rare edition from The British Library in London, and he recalls his aunt telling him she actually had to snap a few necks and compel an unusually large amount of people to sneak the novel out.

Troy didn’t really think about presents until now, and this is most certainly last minute. But he thinks it’s fitting, especially as it’s her favorite book. A rare, special edition to add to her already impressive collection of books.

He pulls a beige ribbon off of an unopened gift he received from his Aunt Freya a few weeks ago, and he uses magic to quickly and neatly tie it around the book. The novel looks present-ready as he emerges from his room, finding a rather tired Gabriella standing in the same spot she was before, her arms now wearily crossed.

“Here,” he says, holding out the novel toward her. Her tired eyes brighten at the sight in front of her, her hands slowly reaching for the book and holding it very carefully. She unconsciously runs her fingers across the golden edge, looking at the book in awe. She looks back up at Troy, her chocolate eyes dancing.

“Troy, you didn’t have to give me anything,” she says, although it’s obvious she’s very much looking forward to opening the novel once she’s back in her room.

Emelie appears at the end of the hallway, backing up into the corner once she sees the two of them standing in front of each other. She looks closely at the item in Gabriella’s hands, noticing the beige ribbon tied beautifully around it. She immediately realizes it’s probably a present… from Troy.

“I wanted to. I mean, you told me that day in the library that you read this novel for therapeutic purposes. Well, now you have a stolen, golden-bound copy from The British Library to read instead,” Troy says with a smirk as Gabriella looks at him incredulously, a smile playing on her lips.

“This is a stolen copy? Please don’t tell me _you_ stole this,” She says as he begins to laugh.

“No, it was my Aunt Rebekah who did it. She said she snapped the most necks she ever has in a library while trying to get this book,” Gabriella giggles at his words, joining him in his laughter.

“Ah, Rebekah Mikaelson. The legendary library thief,” she says, making him laugh even more.

“I’m just glad you like it— uh, I mean, _do_ you like it?” He asks, nervously biting his bottom lip in anticipation. _Maybe she didn’t like it, and now you look like an idiot. Great first attempt at being an acquaintance._ But to his delight, she smiles and nods happily.

“I love it, Troy. Thank you so much,” she says as he smiles back.

“Well, have a goodnight. And… happy birthday, Gabriella,” he says, turning back toward his room and walking in as she does the same. They steal one more glance at each other before both of their doors click shut.

Emelie stays at the end of the hallway, leaning against the wall.

_It’s happening again. You like someone, and Gabriella gets them instead. Because she always wins._

Emelie shakes her head at herself, feeling betrayed and upset. It wouldn’t be a big deal if it weren’t for the present. In fact, she was happy that Gabriella and Troy were being friendly now, and that her sister was enjoying her birthday after a series of unfortunate events taking place the morning. But Troy didn’t give Emelie a present, and it’s her birthday too. She can’t help but feel hurt, and inferior to her sister. A feeling she’s gotten both used to and fed up with.

_No, not this time. I have to tell him how I feel about him, or she will get him somehow._

Emelie decides she won’t let her sister win this time. And soon enough, she’ll make sure of it.


	4. Chapter 4

“Why are you telling me this a week later?” MG exclaims.

“I forgot! It honestly wasn’t a big deal!”

“You have a crush on her though!”

“A small crush! It may not even be a crush, I don’t know!” Troy replies.

“So you’re telling me that you were about to ask her… and then her evil ex beat you to it?” MG says in an incredulous tone, his eyebrows furrowed at Troy, who rolls his eyes and nods tiredly.

“Yep,” Troy sighs, “I got beat out by the girl who’s literally been nicknamed Demon Spawn.”

“I think only Gabi calls her that, but you got a point— I thought the tribrid would have more game,” MG says with a laugh as Troy scoffs.

“Thanks a lot for your support, MG. I truly do appreciate it,” Troy says with a sarcastic smile. He opens his mouth to say something else, but he’s interrupted as his textbook magically flips shut in front of him.

“Uh—“ he begins to say as Gabi takes a seat next to him, an eyebrow raised. And her fist clenched, indicating the telekinesis spell.

“It’s pageant prep day. The school is getting ready for the big day tomorrow?” she says to him, and he raises his eyebrows as well.

“Yeah I know…”

“So _why_ are you reading?”

“Because it’s my break right now!”

“There is no time for breaks!”

“Sure there is, Gabi,” Troy smiles with amusement, “Time is only a social construct, anyway.” Gabriella slaps his arm as he chuckles, watching her frustration rise.

“ _Please,_ I need help with the decoration of the banquet hall. There’s a certain amount of work I have to finish before the rehearsal,” she says with a groan.

“Who’s your partner again?” Troy says with a smirk he can’t contain, watching Gabriella roll her eyes.

“Landon Kirby, no need to remind me!” she turns to MG and pouts, “Why couldn’t you be my escort? I’d be looking forward to tomorrow a lot more.”

“You know I’d love to but I can’t— I have to go visit my mother for the weekend. I don’t even know why! My mother hates me, but she wants me visit _this_ weekend out of all weekends,” MG says, resting this head in his hand.

“Well I hope you have more fun than I do,”

“Unlikely because it’s my neurotic mom,” MG sighs, “but have some faith, Gabs. Landon isn’t… too bad, right?” Troy turns to him with his eyebrows furrowed, laughter about to escape his throat.

“Whatever helps you sleep at night, dude,” Troy says, patting MG on the shoulder as he gets up off the chair and follows Gabi to the banquet hall.

It’s been nearly a week of them not being absolutely, utterly horrible to one another. And neither of them have complained; both feel as if a little weight has been lifted from their shoulders, although neither has admitted that openly. Constantly hating on a certain person can really take a toll, something Troy and Gabi didn’t realize until they let go of their hateful tendencies.

“Is it just decor?”

“Basically, I mean they’ve got people putting stuff up. But we have to choose where everything goes in the room,”

“Why us?”

“Because it was your idea to host this thing, idiot. So now it’s come down on you and me,” Gabriella says with a roll of her eyes.

“Would you rather we have a bunch of angry mortals trying to burn the school down?”

“As if you couldn’t kill them all with a snap,”

“The goal is to _not_ kill a bunch of angry mortals, though. The less fatalities the better,” Troy says as he awaits Gabi’s comeback, which she never delivers considering they run into Emelie.

“Hey, how’s everything coming along with your dress?” Gabriella asks her sister, who gives her a tight smile.

“Almost done being made,” Emelie bites the inside of her cheek momentarily, “what about you? You ever gonna get a dress or no?” Gabriella clenches her jaw, clearly irritated by Emelie’s retort. She takes a deep breath, attempting to calm her temper.

“Of course I do. I know it’s last minute, but I’ll figure it out,” she says, forcing a smile onto her face. Emelie glances shortly at Troy, noticing how him and Gabriella seem to be doing something together. _Oh of course they are._ She walks past both of them, leaving Troy a bit confused while Gabriella just scoffs and continues forward.

Emelie has been particularly hostile to Gabriella ever since the night of their birthday, and Gabriella can’t figure out why. They both enjoyed their birthday party immensely, but shortly after Gabriella received the novel from Troy, Emelie returned to the room and decided to go to sleep immediately without any further discussion. And it hasn’t gotten any better after that; Emelie only seems to be becoming more and more hostile, which Gabriella doesn’t understand.

“When are rehearsals again?” Emelie asks Penelope as she walks into the common area, where Penelope is sitting on the couch.

“Shouldn’t you know this considering you’re a competitor?” Penelope says with a smirk before adding, “They’re in a hour. Until then, come sit with me.”

“And do what?”

“Absolutely nothing,” she says, smiling as Emelie reluctantly plops down on the couch beside her.

“So what did Selfish Gabi do today?” Penelope says, knowing that Em is burning in flames of hate toward her sister right now, and she finds it’s her job to add fuel to her fire.

“Nothing, and you can stop calling her that—“

“Oh but am I wrong?” Emelie pauses at Penelope’s question, hoping to avoid it entirely.

“Well she hasn’t gotten her dress yet,”

Penelope bursts out laughing, “The pageant is tomorrow! Don’t you pretty girls have to do your fitting and stuff today?”

Emelie nods and sighs, “She’s too busy hanging out with Troy instead.”

“Well why should you care?” Penelope says, trying her best to hide the desperateness in her voice, “Gabi and Troy can eat each other’s heads while you get to hang with me.”

“Yep,” Em says blandly, much to Penelope’s disappointment. It’s obvious Emelie has a crush on Troy, and basically everyone sees it at this point. She’s become less subtle about it, and on purpose too, considering she wants her sister to move away from him. She has been contemplating when and how to tell Troy about her crush on him, but everyday something stops her. Gabriella becoming friendlier with Troy hasn’t been enough motivation to take the leap, so Emelie’s just waiting to muster up her courage when it’s time.

The rehearsals begins shortly as an hour passes by rather quickly for both sisters, Emelie getting lost in conversation with Penelope and Gabriella immersing herself in pageant prep, with Troy helping her out along the way.

“Hmm, well rehearsals are right here anyway, so I’m just gonna wait until Landon shows up. You can do whatever you want now,” Gabi says to Troy as she checks something off on her clipboard.

“I have nothing to do,” Troy says in a monotone voice as he rolls his eyes, “so should I just stay here?”

“I’m not your mom, you can do as you like,”

“Not you saying that as if you didn’t just barge into the library asking why I wasn’t helping out,” Troy says with a scoff.

“Because your help was desperately needed! But now we don’t need you, so it’s up to you. You can stay and watch all of us trip over our own shoes, or do whatever the hell it is you do in your free time,” Gabriella says, smiling sarcastically at Troy.

“I guess I’ll stay and watch people trip over their laces. Sounds fun, especially if you’re the one tripping!” He says, smirking as she rolls his eyes.

“Uhm,” a male voice says, making both of them simultaneously turn their heads toward a greasy haired young man, his mouth in a straight line as he stands awkwardly in front of Gabriella.

“Landon,” Gabriella says smiling, although her teeth are gritted, “you’re finally here!” Troy pretends to cough, turning away so he can hide his laughter.

“Everyone else got here a minute ago,” she adds, keeping her face as nonchalant as she can, her eyes quickly glancing at Emelie and Penelope.

“Yeah dude, you’re late to the game,” Troy says, his arms crossed over his strong chest, which is defined by his dark blue t-shirt.

“That’s not really your worry, is it?” Landon snaps at Troy, who just chuckles bitterly.

“Careful,” Troy says threateningly to Landon as he passes him, moving toward the side table and deciding to stand there, where he can see everything without having to interact with anyone in particular. Landon glances at Troy, trying to hide the fear in his eyes before turning back to Gabriella.

“Hmm, so we should get started then,” Gabriella mumbles, walking to the dance floor and beginning the dance with Landon. She eyes the judges who are nonchalantly watching all of them, and she realizes that she has to be extra careful. It may not be official, but they’re already starting the judging process at the rehearsals. This is when they pick the favorites, and she has to be one of them.

“This is the death of feminism,” Penelope whispers in a singsongy voice to Emelie, who rolls her eyes as they circle around one another, their hands a few centimeters from touching.

“It’s tradition, don’t be a hater” she replies simply.

“Fine, I’ll be a lover. Just for you,”

“How sweet,” Em mumbles, unsure about how to feel about Penelope. She doesn’t notice her ex-girlfriend looking at her mysteriously, and she most certainly doesn’t see the thoughts going through Penelope’s head.

With a smirk on her face, Penelope outstretches her foot as they continue to follow the steps of the dance, causing Emelie to trip on her foot and fall backwards. Penelope moves forward at the correct moment, catching Emelie in her arms only a few inches from the ground. Their noses are centimeters away from one another’s, and neither can break their intense stare.

“Ah!” one of the judges says from the side, “That was a great save! However remember this is no touching during the part of the dance.” Penelope fake winces and throws out a feigned apology at the judge, who nods her head with a tight smile.

“Didn’t mean to break the rules here,” she says to Em, who shakes her head in exasperation.

“God, you did that on purpose, didn’t you? You tripped me just to catch me,”

“Killer move, right?”

“You haven’t changed one bit,”

“Trying to have a little harmless and lowkey romantic fun is not evil, Em,”

“Yes it is,” she sighs, “Everything you do is evil, Penelope Park.” She says to her supposedly-evil ex, keeping her facial expression as numb as possible, a facade to cover up how much serotonin that little trip-and-catch move gave her.

Troy continues to stand with his arms crossed by the side table, having seen the entire thing go down. He clenches his jaw unconsciously as he watches Emelie’s irritated outward expression as Penelope continues to flirt. _You don’t even like being with Penelope, so why accept her as your escort?_ He says to Emelie in his head, stifling a sigh as he looks away from the pair of girls.

His eyes land on Gabriella, who has her hand very lightly placed on Landon’s shoulder while the other is barely gripping his hand. He almost feels bad for her, because while it’s certainly amusing to watch her get frustrated over Landon, she also has to spend the entire evening with him tomorrow. Troy continues to observe silently, speaking to people briefly here and there.

“Did you practice?” Gabriella asks Landon quietly, and he simply pulls his mouth into a straight line, “Oh, that makes sense. You don’t seem to know what you’re doing.” His feet are practically all over the place, and soon enough his foot unconsciously does the same thing Penelope’s did just a few moments ago. Gabriella trips on the rubber tip of Landon’s shoe, but instead of falling she attempts to catch herself from doing so, causing her to bump into another pageant contestant who is practicing right next to them.

Gabriella straightens herself and sighs, “I apologize, I didn’t mean to bump into you. Are you okay?” The curly-haired stranger looks back with daggers in her eyes.

“Oh I’m fine, but you’re obviously not. Considering you took no time to do your hair, you could have at least practiced the dance,” the girl smirks ever-so-slightly as she turns back to her partner and leads them a bit further away from Gabriella and Landon.

Troy cannot hear any of the conversation (not as if he wants to) but he does become a bit curious when he spots Gabriella’s angered expression both at the other girl and Landon.

“ _I_ did practice, but _you_ didn’t, and now it’s coming down on me,” she spits out to Landon, who just looks back at her with a stupidly guilty expression. She spots the judges looking at her simply standing there, so she immediately goes back into her dancing position with Landon, continuing to glare at him angrily.

“Just don’t try anything new. Move your feet like I do, and we’ll be fine,” she mumbles, “The judges are already looking down on us.”

“Well they only looked here because you started yelling at me. We’d probably be fine if you just kept your cool,” Landon retorts, shocking Gabriella with his audacity.

“Excuse me? You’re the one that didn’t practice!” she says through gritted teeth, her jaw hurting immensely as her teeth grind.

Troy can hear very slight clinking sounds from next to him, and he turns his head to see the glass on the table is shaking subtly. His eyes widen just a little and his eyebrow furrow, wondering what could be causing the glass to tremble.

“Yeah, I’m sorry. I had stuff to do, but it’s not my fault they’re looking at us. That’s all I’m trying to say,”

“Are you kidding me right now, Landon? It is totally your fault! All you had to do was practice, or at least try to be pageant escort material, and we’d be fine!” Gabriella says in a slightly louder tone, making some heads turn in her direction, including Troy. The glass begins to tremble more frantically, the clinking getting louder in his ears. He can sense the glass is about to shatter; the same moment, he realizes the shaking glass is a result of Gabriella’s rage. He can practically smell it in the air at this point.

“Now we’ve got the entire banquet hall looking at us, thanks to your rag-“

“Landon!” Gabriella exclaims, separating from him with her fists balled up to her sides, “Stop!” The clinking becomes practically unbearable in Troy’s ears, and he rushes across the banquet hall and to Gabriella. She is taken by surprise when she feels two strong hands placing themselves lightly on her shoulders. She turns her head back and sees Troy, his piercing blue eyes glaring at Landon with his jaw clenched.

“You,” he says in a low, threatening whisper, “Stay here. Do nothing.” Landon steps back a bit, instantly taking the orders. Troy looks down at Gabriella and sighs very slightly.

“Come with me,” he tells her softly, his hands still on her shoulders as he leads her out of the banquet hall entirely.

“Where are we going?” She asks while keeping her head straight, walking toward the main entrance, which is where Troy seems to be leading her.

“The woods,” he says curtly, his voice stern.

“What? Why?”

“Just trust me,”

Gabriella sighs, “I don’t know what you’re doing, but whatever it is, you don’t need to. I’m fine.”

“You are not fine,” he says to her as they begin to walk toward the woods. It’s a partly sunny day, and some rays of sunshine are making their way through the white clouds, making it a bright day but not a colorful one.

Gabriella doesn’t say a word until Troy leads her all the way to the old mill deep into the woods, looking out at the vast stretch of trees and scattered grass in front of them.

“God, Troy, I’m fine!”

“You are far from fine!” Troy says, finally letting her go so she can turn around to face his sharp, austere blue eyes, “You are one small moment away from a meltdown. Trust me, I know the signs.” Gabriella scoffs and rolls her eyes, about to protest until she senses him taking a step closer to her, his eyes a bit softer now.

Troy sighs quietly, “You know that feeling inside, like a balloon constantly filling up, always on the verge of popping?” His blue eyes burn into her chocolate ones, which are slightly narrowed as she registers his words.

“Maybe,” she replies very quietly.

“Well, let it pop,” Troy takes yet another step toward Gabriella, their eyes connected to each others, “Scream. As loud as you can.”

She gives him a puzzled look, but his expression doesn’t falter at all. _He means it… he wants me to scream?_ she thinks silently to herself.

Gabriella takes one last look at him before turning around and stepping away from him, finding herself standing at the edge of the clear land of brown and green in front of her. There are scattered leaves on the ground and some flowers sprouting here and there.

Troy takes a step back, distancing himself from Gabriella and giving her space. She takes a deep breath, closing her eyes and letting her nostrils fill with the neutral smell of winter-spring. She holds her breath for a moment before opening her eyes and allowing the air to exhale through her vocal cords, a loud and long scream escaping her throat simultaneously.

It feels as if time has slowed down; her palms are turned outward, energy being emitted from them. The brown, crumpled leaves on the ground rise into the air, flying with the strong breeze created as a result of the energy from her scream.

The scream comes to an end as the exhale through Gabriella’s vocal cords is finally completed. She takes yet another deep breath, this time expelling the air from her lungs silently. She closes her eyes as she feels the adrenaline in her body receding, a sense of calm overcoming her. The rapid beating in her chest is slowing down gradually, the breeze making her wavy brown hair fly slightly behind her head.

Troy realizes he was holding his breath, and he himself exhales silently as the scene comes to an end. He looks at the back of Gabriella’s head, watching her shoulders rise and fall as she composes herself. A small smile irresistibly makes it way across his lips as he recognizes that his tactic most certainly worked.

Gabriella turns her head toward him, a minuscule smile on her face as well. They stay there, looking into each other’s eyes for a short moment, one that barely takes any time in the real world but feels like it stretches for hours in their heads.

“You know what, I actually kinda feel better,” she says with an exhale as they begin to make their way back to the school.

“I’m glad, because Landon’s still gonna be there when we get back,” Troy says, resisting rolling his eyes.

“And that girl who’s so sure her hair is perfect, which it’s not,” Gabriella says with a small groan.

“That’s what she told you? That her hair is perfect?” Troy says with a look of amusement, a chuckle escaping his throat as he looks at Gabriella.

“No, not literally. But she told me that I didn’t do my hair so I should’ve used the extra time to practice… which I did! Plus, I didn’t think I’d need to do my hair for the freaking rehearsal!”

“Honestly I thought you were gonna wear your hair like this for the pageant too, so I don’t see what the problem is,”

Gabriella shakes her head with a smile, “I can’t attend the pageant looking like this, Troy.”

“Why not?” He says immediately, their voices almost overlapping with the speed of his response. Gabriella turns her head toward him as they continue making their way toward the school, almost at the grand entrance.

“Well, because the pageant requires a more put-together look, but…” she turns forward again to hide the slight upturn of her lips, “thank you. That’s nice of you to say, and surprising because you never say anything to nice to me anyway.”

Troy rolls his eyes in response, “As if you do.”

Gabriella chuckles with amusement, “I don’t, as I shouldn’t!” Both of them step back into the school, finding that the rehearsal has ended, although Gabriella most certainly doesn’t mind. The pageant committee is dismissed for the rest of the day, everyone joining the rest of the students as they engage themselves in a variety of weekend activities.

Emelie emerges from the banquet hall with Penelope trailing over slightly behind her, her eyes falling on Troy and Gabriella standing together at the entrance. She can’t help but bitterly make her way over, knowing she’ll regret the words that are to come out of her mouth but also that she can’t stop herself.

“You just left rehearsals? You know you won’t get on the judges’ good side by being absent, right?” Em says to her sister, who turns her head in a slow and threatening manner.

“Things would’ve turned ugly if I had stayed, so maybe you should be grateful,” Gabriella remarks in a low voice, getting fed up by her sister’s hostile treatment.

Emelie half-rolls her eyes, crossing her arms, “All right well, just focus on getting a dress. I guess we need to focus on one problem at a time, huh?” Penelope snickers quietly in the back, and Troy suddenly feels a need to step in. After all, he was the one who took Gabriella out of the rehearsal.

“Come on Em,” he says simply, his voice a little low as she turns his head toward him, “Don’t be condescending.” Emelie opens her both to respond, but finds that she can’t, as most people can’t when he demands something from them. Penelope takes Emelie’s arm and leads her away from them, walking away into the labyrinth of the school.

“And to think I almost got her a dress,” Troy mumbles very quietly, watching the two girls walk away. He turns his head and finds Gabriella looking at him with an incredulous look.

“You did what now?”

Troy sighs, “Well, you weren’t supposed to hear that. But yeah, I wanted to get your sister a dress. That was also before I wanted to escort her to the pageant, but neither of those things are happening,” he looks at Gabriella and pulls his lips into a line, “Thankfully.”

“Woah, you wanted to escort her? Then why didn’t you? It would’ve been better than her satanic ex-girlfriend doing so instead,” Gabriella says, never thinking that those words would come out of her mouth. A week ago, she thought of Penelope and Troy as demon spawns, with Penelope being ranked higher than Troy. The thought of Troy escorting Emelie would’ve been revolting to her, not as if it isn’t right now, but it’s definitely an easier pill to swallow than Penelope and Emelie going together.

“Oh trust me, I tried. I was going to ask her the night of your birthday party, but at that same moment Penelope walked in and stole my spot,”

“That bitch,”

Troy holds up his hands as if trying to calm her down, “Slow down, I’m glad it didn’t work out though.”

“Why?”

“I don’t think I’m meant for escorting, first of all. And two— she’s been acting weird for the past week anyway,”

“I’m pretty sure it’s just Penelope’s influence,”

“I don’t think any evil ex of mine could possibly influence me enough to act the way she just did,”

Gabriella bites the inside of her cheek, a bit taken aback by Troy’s reaction to Emelie, “It wasn’t a big deal. She was just being hostile, which I hate to admit… you’ve done plenty of times before.”

“She was being condescending about something sensitive,”

“I didn’t think it was sensitive,”

“Gabriella, we left rehearsal to prevent a meltdown. I think that’s pretty sensitive,”

“She didn’t know,”

“Everyone in the room saw what was happening, as your sister she could probably guess,”

“We can’t assume,”

“Why are you okay with her acting this way?”

“Because she’s my sister,”

“But she was ableist!”

“Troy!”

“What?” Troy says, sharply exhaling when he realizes he was taking very shallow breaths.

Gabriella swallows hard, her eyes narrow slits, “This isn’t the first time someone’s been ableist to me.” She looks him up and down for a moment, and Troy instantly recognizes that she’s talking about him.

He clears his throat and sighs, “Yeah, you’re right.” He doesn’t say anything else, walking toward the campus exit in the back, which leads to the living quarters. Gabriella stays put in her spot, thinking extremely hard. _Why the hell did he freak out like that? Why does he even care?_ she asks herself in her head, unable to find the answers. Although the thoughts continue to gnaw at her insides, she too exits the building to head to her room.

The evening arrives, and Emelie does not once return to her room, which gives Gabriella the entire day to practice the dance in her room. She spends a good two hours trying to figure out where to get her dress, until she finally settles on wearing a ball gown that she has carefully placed in her closet. It’s a beautiful dress, and most certainly fitting for the pageant.

There’s suddenly a knock at the door, and Gabriella opens it to find her mother.

“Hi mom,” she says with a tired smile as her mother kisses her forehead.

“Hi honey,” Caroline looks around the room and finds some clothes and dresses scattered around, “so did you find a dress?”

“Yeah, I’m gonna wear my dark green one. It’s a nice one, right? Fitting for the pageant?”

“More than fitting— it’s beautiful. And I mean there’s also all of my dresses,”

Gabriella smiles, “Yeah I know, I checked out all of them. But I think this is the best one for me.”

Caroline sighs and seats herself on the edge of Gabriella’s bed, “I actually had this beautiful ball gown once. It was like a dusky blue, with silver accents all over. It genuinely was about the most stunning dress I have ever worn.” Gabriella watches as her mother smiles at the memories that appear to be reemerging in her head.

“What happened to it?”

“Well, it was a gift from someone. He gave it to me wh—”

Gabriella holds up her hand, “ _He?_ Oh my god, a man gave you a pretty blue ball gown? This only raises my standards.”

Caroline chuckles, “Well yes, a man gave me that dress. He gave it to me for a ball his family was hosting. And he told me to keep it, but I was arrogant and didn’t really want much to do with him at that point in my life, so I gave it back… respectfully, of course.” Caroline smirks slightly at Gabriella, who laughs as she realizes that her mother most certainly was _not_ respectful when giving back the dress.

“Oh no, a problematic lover?”

“Most certainly,” Caroline groans a bit, before her eyes become dazed and that small smile returns to her lips, “The most problematic lover of all.”

“Where is he now?” Gabriella asks, and her mother turns her head to her daughter, swallowing hard as her eyes gloss over just a bit.

“He’s in peace,” her mother whispers.

“I’m sorry,” Gabriella whispers back, hanging her head low.

“Well, he’ll always be there in my head. The point is,” Caroline gets up off the bed and puts on her bubbly smile again, “I had a pretty dress, and now I don’t. Which sucks because you need a pretty dress right now, but it seems you’ve found something just as beautiful. Anyway, I’ll see you in the dining hall. And today, I want you to eat a little more. Don’t think I don’t see you starving yourself just because we live in a boarding school.”

Gabriella smiles slightly and nods, “I’m not starving myself, but I’ll try. I’ll eat a little more, don’t worry.” She can’t help but think about how she’s only making Caroline’s life harder by not eating, therefore adding to her mother’s already long list of worries.

Caroline leaves the room and leaves Gabriella with her mess of dresses, all of which she neatly returns to the closet using telekinesis spells. She leaves the dark emerald ball gown lying perfectly on the surface of her bed. She looks down at it, imagining what that dusky blue gown looked like. _He gave her an expensive ball gown, for a ball that his own family was hosting? Where did she find that man?_ Gabriella thinks to herself with a little smirk.

There is yet another knock on the door, and Gabriella expects that it’s her mom again, probably back to tell her something she forgot to at first.

However, Gabriella is taken aback when she sees Troy standing right outside the doorframe, a fairly large matte black box resting in his hands.

“Hi,” he says with a gulp, “I kinda have something I wanted to show you.”

Gabriella looks at the large box in his hands, “Oh, um, sure. What’s in the box?”

“Well that’s what I wanted to show you,” he says with a chuckle, rolling his eyes playfully.

She allows him to pass her and set the box down on her bed. She closes the door and stands in front of the box as he stands off to the side a bit, his hand on the lid.

Troy eyes the green dress on the side, “So it seems you’ve already found a dress.”

“Yeah that’s the best I could do,” she says with a shrug as Troy nods, lifting the lid of the black box.

Inside sits a beautiful blue ball gown folded perfectly, the silver accents on the chest portion of the dress facing up. Gabriella stares down at the gown, her jaw slightly dropped.

“This was my father’s. He gave it to a woman he loved, but she gave it back. I don’t really know the story, but uhm…” Troy touches the back of his neck, “I kinda asked my aunt to send over a dress for you, and she sent this one. I think it’s nice, but it’s up to you of course.”

Gabriella looks up, reluctantly tearing her eyes off the contents of the box, her eyes glossed with tears and her eyebrows furrowed as she tries her hardest to hold those teardrops back.

Troy’s eyes widen a little as he steps forward, putting his hand on her shoulder, “Gabriella, what’s wrong?” His voice is soft as Gabriella just shakes her head.

“Nothing, nothing at all,” she takes a deep breath, composing herself. Her heart is racing, and her mind has come to a conclusion.

_This is the dress, isn’t it?_

She carefully lifts the dress from the box, looking at the silver accents sparkle in front of her eyes. The dusky blue is unmissable, and definitely as beautiful as her mother had claimed it was. The dress is like nothing she’s ever seen before, and she knows that she’d much rather wear this over the emerald dress.

But her mother… if this really is the same dress, how will her mother react?

_She said that it sucked she didn’t have the dress, because I could’ve used it. So obviously she won’t mind, right?_

_But it’ll bring back heart-wrenching memories. Damn it—_

“It’s beautiful,” Gabriella says, a huge and uncontainable smile breaking onto her face. Troy lifts his head a bit in relief, smiling as well.

“I know it’s a bit sparkly, but like—“

“No! I love sparkly!” Gabriella laughs jubilantly, a happy feeling washing over her suddenly.

“I know you do, you had sparkles all over you at your birthday party,” he says, his smile fading a bit when he realizes that he may or may not have said too much. _Now you’ve made yourself look like a pervert who was observing her body. How great._

Gabriella’s eyes look puzzled for a short moment before her eyes return to that same wide, glowing state. Her chocolate brown eyes seem lighter, and Troy can’t decide whether that’s what happens when she’s extremely happy or if it’s just the light. Considering they spent their entire lives hating each other, they haven’t really seen each other in a truly happy state. Troy decides that the sight isn’t a bad one, his smile widening a bit as he watches her admire the dress.

“So you like it?”

“I love it, Troy. So much,”

“I think you’ll look great in it,”

Gabriella giggles shyly, “Thank you. You really didn’t have to do this, it’s honestly too much at this point,”

Troy rolls his eyes, “This is the first nice thing I’ve done for you.”

“I think you’re forgetting my birthday present,”

“I just picked it off my shelf! It barely counts,” Troy says with a shrug, smiling slightly.

Gabriella looks at him closely, her eyes dancing as a smirk plays on her lips, “So you really made your aunt go through the trouble of sending over the dress? She already has to deal with _you_ as her nephew, isn’t that enough?”

Troy chuckles and holds up his hands in defense, “I can always take the dress back.”

“No!” Gabriella exclaims while defensively pulling the box from him a little, making Troy laugh harder.

“Aunt Rebekah doesn’t think I’m a burden, by the way. She thought it was nice I was doing this for a friend,”

“Ah, are we friends now?” Gabriella says with a giggle.

“No, we’re enemies. I got you that dress just to spite you!” Troy sarcastically says, making Gabriella rolls her eyes.

“Yeah, yeah, I got it. Well anyway, thank you so much. I’ll definitely wear it tomorrow,” Gabriella says with a soft smile as Troy nods his head slightly, smiling as well.

Troy tells her that he’s going off to the dining hall before leaving her room. She folds the dress neatly and puts it back into the box, ready to wear for tomorrow. Several thoughts swim in her head.

_I bet Mom will be happy to see me wearing the dress. Plus, it could just be a similar dress, what are the odds that this is the same one? I’m wearing this dress tomorrow. I have to._

Gabriella shuts the lights in the room, about to open the door when her body freezes. It’s completely dark in the room as her mind wanders to another thought.

_But what if it is her dress?_

She swallows hard.

_Klaus Mikaelson was the problematic lover._

—

“All of the escorts are correctly recorded on the chart, yep,” Troy says to his friend and classmate, Kaleb.

“Sweet! I guess we’re done for now, see you in three hours,” Kaleb says with a nod, heading out of the decorated banquet hall. Troy sticks around by the podium for a few more moments, scanning the sheet once again.

Troy has been put in charge of managing many aspects of the pageant, as he was the one to suggest it. He didn’t expect so many responsibilities, but he didn’t really mind too much either. His blue eyes fall onto the third row in the first column on the sheet: “Emelie Montez” it reads. His pupils move to the second column, where every pageant contestant’s escort is listed: “Penelope Park” it reads.

He clenches his jaw in frustration, not really at the whole Emelie-Penelope situation, but rather at the fact that he’s so confused about how to feel. He doesn’t know whether he has a crush on her or not. One moment it seems he does, the next it seems he doesn’t. There’s a reason why he doesn’t get close to other people; all they do is confuse his already-jumbled mind.

He’s dressed in a white button down shirt, black dress pants, and one of his many black Valentinos. All he has to do is put on a tie and his suit when the pageant begins, and until then he decides to spend him time in the library. There’s probably no one there at this time, since everyone is either getting ready or hanging out in the common area at the front of the school.

He steps into the library, his eyes immediately falling upon a brown-haired petite girl sitting on the couch with her feet up, wearing a beige cropped hoodie with denim shorts and black chunky sneakers. Of course, she’s holding a gold-embroidered cover of _Pride and Prejudice_ by Jane Austen.

Troy groans, “Seriously? I _never_ get this place to myself.”

“Well now that you’re here, I can say the same thing,” Gabriella rolls her eyes, “I got here literally five minutes ago. I only got five minutes!”

“And I got none!” Troy says, walking leisurely to the couch on which Gabriella is sitting, “Don’t you have to get ready for the pageant?”

“All I have to do with wear my dress, do my makeup, and do my hair. It’s not that big of a deal,” she says with a shrug as Troy furrows his eyebrows, stifling a chuckle.

“Uh, that sounds like a lot,”

“Nothing’s a lot for Gabriella Montez,”

He rolls his eyes, “Yeah, of course it isn’t. Narcissist.”

“I could tell you the same thing,” Gabriella says in a singsongy tone, looking up at him playfully with her eyes as her novel covers the rest of her face.

She retracts her legs and curls them close to her body, making space on the couch as he stands at the edge. He notices and wants to tell her that he was planning on sitting by himself on the other end as usual, but something compels him not to. Instead, he takes a seat on the now open space on the leather couch.

“You look tired,” he remarks quietly after observing her for a short moment.

“Hmm, I almost always am. So it’s no surprise that I feel especially exhausted before a huge pageant,” she sharply exhales, lowering her book so her entire face is revealed to him.

“Anything I can do to help?”

“No, the dress was all the help I needed. I guess now I just need to learn to feign excitement for the pageant,”

“Well I mean, aren’t you even a little excited genuinely?”

“Landon is making it hard for me to feel that way,” she says with a knowing look, and Troy raises his eyebrows in understanding.

“And honestly, I didn’t sleep that well. I slept like shit, actually,” she groans.

Troy narrows his eyes very slightly, trying to read her, “Any particular reason why?”

Gabriella shrugs nonchalantly, “Just… too many thoughts, I guess.” She raises her book once again, keeping to herself the fact that she spent a good portion of the night connecting all and any dots she could find in her head, trying to figure out whether her mother and Klaus could have possibly dated. Of course, she can just ask her mother, but maybe that would seem absurd. Or if it really is true, it would only upset her mother on a day where she’s supposed to open up her school to the entire town of Mystic Falls, with both of her daughters competing in the pageant as well. Gabriella has decided to ask Caroline after the pageant, or perhaps leave it all together if the thought finds a way out of her head soon.

“How about you, tribrid?”

“What about me?”

“How did you sleep?”

Troy looks at her closely, clenching his jaw slightly before curtly responding, “Fine.”

Gabriella checks the time on her phone, her downturned lips drooping a bit more, “I think I gotta go now. I’m actually gonna be super late if I don’t start getting ready.” Troy nods and they both rise up from the couch at once. He looks at the book in her hand and smiles before they head out.

“I’m glad you’re using this copy,”

Gabriella smiles very slightly, “No one else has a super cool British Library copy of the novel, so might as well flaunt it, right?” Troy chuckles as they both make their way out, this particular hallway entirely empty.

They walk into the main lobby by the front entrance, and they see the judges have arrived.

“Oh god, I really gotta get ready. I have less than three hours,” Gabriella says, a bit of panic rising in her voice. She picks up her pace as she excuses herself out from the back exit to the stone living quarters.

“I’ll see you later,” Troy calls out to her, and she turns back with a nod before leaving the building. He walks back to the library, realizing he finally has the opportunity to be there alone, as he wanted.

While time goes by rather slowly for Troy, it is the opposite for Gabriella, who spends the three hours before the pageant rather frantically getting herself ready. However, everything about her appearance turns out exactly the way she had hoped, with the dress looking even better than she expected.

Emelie and Gabriella are getting ready together in their room, both of them overall silent to one another as they continue to get ready. It is when Gabriella finally zips on her dress, completing the look, when Emelie turns to her sister.

“Your dress,” Emelie says quietly, examining the dusky blue ball gown, making note of the intricate silver embroidery and crystals.

Gabriella turns to Em, “Yeah, uh, what about it?”

“It’s beautiful,”

Gabriella smiles, gesturing to Emelie’s dress as she says, “Not as beautiful as yours.” Emelie is wearing a strapless black silk gown, and it definitely fits her. Her hair is done up in the bun on the top of her head ballerina style, while Gabriella’s hair is down in voluminous curls.

“Thank you,” Emelie says quietly with a smile, a bit of her normal self showing as her hostility from the past week seems to subside, “I’ve never seen that dress before. Where’d you get it?”

Gabriella purses her lips, feeling uncomfortable about telling her that Troy got her the dress. She doesn’t really plan on telling anyone ever, considering people could get the wrong idea, especially since it’s obvious Emelie is very much crushing on Troy.

Gabriella opens her mouth to say something just as their mother walks in through the door of their bedroom, looking in Emelie’s direction first. Caroline puts both of her hands on her face in delight.

“Ahh! You look so beautiful Em!” She pulls her daughter in a big hug, smiling brightly before turning to the other side of the room.

“And you! Gabriella, you look—“ Caroline trails off, her eyes widening and her smile dropping from her face. Her green eyes gloss over Gabriella, seemingly taking note of every inch of the dress.

Gabriella swallows hard, knowing that this answers her question. The one that had been bugging her all day and night.

“Where did you get that dress?” Caroline asks in a small and quiet voice, her mind spinning. She almost feels as if she’s not in the present moment. A part of her mind has traveled back to 2010, with that same dress on her body as she dances with the tall, dark-eyed man that gave her that same dress.

Gabriella’s eyes flick over to Emelie momentarily, who’s peering at their mother curiously.

“Troy,” she says in a quiet voice, exhaling slightly, “Troy gave it to me.” She immediately notices Emelie’s head snap from her mom to her sister, her eyes displaying shock.

“Troy gave it to you,” Caroline says in a dazed voice, nodding to herself very slowly. Both of her daughters watch their mother fight some sort of battle in her head; they give her time to find her words before pressing her to explain.

“My god,” Caroline says a few moments afterwards, putting her hand on her forehead, “that dress… it’s the one I was talking about. The dusky blue and silver dress that I received as a gift.”

“Wait, this is _your_ dress?” Emelie asks her mother.

“No, not really. I mean, I guess? I—“ Caroline breathes out, a small smile on her face as a chuckle escapes her throat, “Wow, Klaus really kept it all the way until the end, didn’t he?”

Gabriella clears her throat nervously, “Troy told me his father gave this dress to a woman, who gave it back to him, and of course it looks just like the dress you described. So I put two and two together, and…”

Caroline nods her head with a small smile, her eyes still dazed as she looks at the dress, “Yeah, Klaus Mikaelson was my problematic lover.”

At this moment, Emelie steps forward from behind her mother, looking at both of them incredulously, “Woah, what? You dated Klaus Mikaelson? As in… Troy’s dad?”

Caroline sighs, nodding her head simply as Emelie turns to her sister, “And you knew and didn’t think to tell me?”

“I didn’t _know_ , I had a hunch,” Gabriella retorts, her voice softer than Emelie’s however, something that doesn’t really happen much.

“You could’ve shared your hunch with me, or the fact that Troy gave you a dress for the pageant!” Emelie’s voice rises yet again, and she can feel her mother putting her hand firmly on her shoulder.

“Please,” Caroline says in her authoritative tone, “No fighting right now.” Emelie purses her lips before taking her strapless purse and making her way out of the room, heading down to the banquet hall for the pageant. She isn’t in the mood to feel left out of the loop, which unfortunately is how she feels most of the time. Today is different though; she plans on winning tonight, and she won’t let her sister dampen her spirit.

Caroline doesn’t try to stop her, watching her leave before turning her own head back to Gabriella, this time looking into her daughter’s eyes rather than her dress.

“I didn’t know if you’d be okay with me wearing it,” Gabriella says softly, looking down, “and I realize I should’ve asked, especially since I kinda already guessed that this was the same dress. But if you want me to wear something else, I’m okay with that.”

Caroline immediately shakes her head, “No, Gabi. You look stunning in the dress. And after all, it’s not mine. I gave it back to Klaus, and considering everything that was his now belongs to his son… Troy can do whatever he wants with the dress. It just happened that Troy unintentionally returned it right back into the same arms. Well, sort of— it’s in your arms, not mine.” She can’t help but smile, admiring the dress yet again, her memories overtaking her entirely.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, honey, I really am. This is your dress now, and I want you to embrace how absolutely gorgeous you look in it, you understand?” Caroline says with an eyebrow raise, “Miss Mystic Falls requires confidence, which you have plenty of, as we all know. Let it shine tonight.” Gabriella’s lips break into a huge smile, chuckling simultaneously with her mother. She makes her way to the door, which Caroline right behind her until she abruptly stops.

Gabriella turns back to her mom, “Troy actually told me something a little different.”

Caroline furrows her eyebrows slightly, “About what?”

“About the dress. He didn’t just tell me that his dad gave it to a woman… he told me that Klaus gave it to a woman he _loved_ ,” Gabriella swallows hard as she watches Caroline’s eyes flicker a bit, very slightly becoming glossed with moisture.

A soft chuckle escapes Caroline’s lips, “He did, that’s for sure.” Her voice is very soft, and Gabriella has to strain her ears just a bit to listen.

“Come on now, you’ve got a pageant to win,” Caroline says with a smile, taking a deep breath as if to cleanse herself from the flood of memories she was just got swept away by.

The contestants are urged into the lobby above the banquet hall, the one that leads out to the grand staircase on which every contestant and their escorts will make their entrance.

“Everyone is lined up in order, we’re prepared to start the entrances,” a woman says into her earpiece, which seems to be connected to the main judge and presenter standing out in the banquet hall below, in front of the large crowd that has gathered to watch the pageant.

Troy stands in the hall to the side, just a little distance from the judges. He gets a very up close view of the entrances, especially as he’s still in charge of multiple organizational affairs throughout the pageant itself.

“Good evening, everyone!” The primary judge says jubilantly into the microphone, her strong voice booming all throughout the vast banquet hall, making all heads turn in her direction with some cheers as well.

“We are gathered here in the beautiful Salvatore Boarding School, courtesy of Headmistress Caroline Salvatore,” the judge gestures to Caroline, who stands off to the side in a dark blue suit, smiling and bowing her head slightly, “to host our annual Miss Mystic Falls Pageant. We shall begin right away with the presentation of the gorgeous young ladies that will be competing for the crown tonight. First up…” the judge goes on to present the first contestant, and everyone claps and cheers as she descends down the stairs with her escort. Troy recognizes the girl as the one who was bitching with Gabriella at the rehearsal, and he applauds her more quietly as a result.

The second contestant is descending down the stairs when Landon sighs next to Gabriella, making her head turn.

“Something wrong?” She asks him, trying her best to keep the bitterness out of her tone.

“Nope,”

“All right well keep your sighs to yourself then, I don’t wanna do this with you either,”

Landon scoffs, “I didn’t do anything to piss you off. All I did was sigh. If all it takes is a sigh for you to switch on your psycho mode, then how can anyone be friends with you?” Gabriella raises her eyebrows and lifts her a chin a little, taken aback by his retort.

“God, what the hell is your problem?”

“ _My_ problem? You mean _your_ problem? And I’ll tell you what it is—“ Gabriella stops him but putting up her hand.

“I already know what my problems are, thank you very much. You don’t need to be an asshole about it. I know I’m a crazy bipolar psycho witch, and I know it’s hard to be around me. But we’re stuck with each other for tonight, so please,” she exhales, closing her eyes for a moment and then opening them yet again, a bit more serenity swimming within her dark brown pupils, “let’s just get through it peacefully. I’ll be nice to you, and you be nice to me. Got it?”

Landon suddenly breaks the link between their arms, stepping out of the line, “I’m sorry, but I’m genuinely fed up. I can’t do this, sorry.” With a shrug, he walks away back into the lobby and disappears into the hallway.

Gabriella’s eyes widen as she realizes that she doesn’t have an escort, “Landon!” She calls out to him, tears instantly springing to her eyes. _Oh god no, not right now. This isn’t the time for this. I can’t possibly have this happening right now._ Her thoughts spin violently within her head, making her head spin as well, her eyesight greying out a bit as she begins to hyperventilate slightly.

“Emelie Montez, escorted by Penelope Park,” the judge says into the microphone, resulting in cheering ringing out from the entire banquet hall. Gabriella is standing alone and at a distance from the edge of the stairs, clapping as she watches her sister descend. Penelope looks at Emelie with a wide smile, and Gabriella sees her sister joyfully return the smile. Gabriella is no longer able to keep her own feigned smile on her face as the rapid breaths and tears overcome her entirely. As soon as her sister steps onto the base of the stairs, she’ll have to go down, and she’ll have no one to go with. _You have no escort, you’ll be all alone. As you deserve to be. You deserve every bit of this, Gabriella._ The voice in her head scolds herself as the tears welled up in her eyes begin to stream down her face.

Troy observes Emelie with a smile, continuing to applaud for her as she nears the base of the staircase. His eyes trail upward, checking for the next contestant, which happens to be Gabriella. He’s about to bring his eyes back to Emelie until he notices the tears on Gabriella’s face, and the noticeably deep breaths she seems to taking. He squints his eyes slightly and realizes that she’s completely alone, and definitely about to have a meltdown. _Where the hell is Landon?_ He thinks to himself, his thoughts racing all over the place as he realizes that Gabriella will have to make her entrance alone.

Troy rushes to Kaleb’s side, “Dude, if someone asks for something from me, can you take on the job instead?”

Kaleb nods, “Yeah sure, why though?”

“I’m needed elsewhere,” Troy says simply as he rushes out of the banquet hall, jogging up to the lobby behind the grand staircase. Gabriella is looking down at the ground, listening to the cheers subside, meaning that Emelie has reached the bottom of the stairs. _Oh no, it’s my turn._

She decides to herself that she can’t possibly walk down like this; it’ll be too humiliating. Gabriella is about to exit the line all together when she crashes into someone’s hard chest, the same one as the weekend before. The one that was walking out of her bedroom just as she was walking in.

Gabriella looks up at the tall, blue-eyed young man, her eyes wide, “Troy?” Her voice is soft as Troy smiles gingerly at her.

“Let me take care of that,” he says, referring to her tears. He does a wiping motion with his hand in the air in front of her face, causing her tears to subside and dry.

“W-what are you doing?” She asks, confused as he links their arms together and straightens out his own suit.

“I don’t know what the hell happened to Landon, but I’m gonna be your escort instead,” he whispers to her.

“I- thank you,” she says quietly, looking up at him with a small smile. Troy returns it, until he starts to shake his head.

“Gabi, that’s not gonna cut it. You wanna win? You have to walk down with your best smile, and that’s not it,” he says, smirking at her just a tad bit.

Gabriella scoffs softly, “I’ll try.” Both of them turn their heads forward, ready to be called for their entrance. Troy watches the judge at the podium from the corner of his eye, until he realizes that the chart still says “Landon Kirby” on it. Troy does a slight wiggle of his fingers, spelling the paper so Landon’s name is replaced with his own. He can’t tell if it worked or not, but he’s sure it did.

“Gabriella Montez, escorted by Troy Bolton,” the judge says into the microphone, and cheers erupt from the crowds. Both of them are sure that they’re getting more applause than the other competitors, and neither of them mind it.

Troy and Gabriella begin to step down the stairs, both of them putting on a smile. Gabriella’s smile is wide, but doesn’t show any teeth. Troy turns to her, looking down at her face while continuing to smile widely himself.

“Show some teeth, Gabi,” he whispers to her, making her turn her head to him as they descend. She looks at him for a moment longer before nodding at him very slightly. Turning her head back forward, Gabriella gives the crowd a tooth-baring smile, one that makes more cheers break out from down below. Troy watches Gabriella for a moment longer, his blue eyes boring into hers as he admires her smile.

He too turns his head forward a second later, his eyes then landing on Emelie. Gabriella is also watching Emelie, whose eyes are like sharp slits. Penelope is silently watching Emelie with a small frown. Troy descends down the final step of the staircase a bit earlier than Gabriella, unlinking their arms. He turns to her with his hand stretched out instead, gesturing with his eyes for her to take it as she reaches the bottom.

Gabriella looks at him curiously for a moment, before giggling quietly and delicately placing her own hand in his palm. Hand-in-hand, they walk to the edge and line up along with the other contestants. Gabriella can feel Emelie’s eyes on them, but she ignores her all together. This is definitely not going as Gabriella had planned, and she definitely has a lot of explaining to do to her sister and… practically everyone once the pageant’s over.

All of the attendees are seated at their tables for dinner, with the contestants seated on a large round table in the center. Troy had been in charge of arranging the seating for the contestants, and he realizes that he’ll be sitting at the seat where he placed Landon’s card several hours ago. Troy wiggles his fingers slightly at his side yet again, and the name on the card morphs from “Landon Kirby” to “Troy Bolton”.

“That’s better,” he whispers to Gabriella, who amusedly watched Troy cast the spell moments ago.

“Indeed it is,” she says with a smirk. Her anxiety and anger from before has almost entirely dissipated, and something about having her hand being held by someone throughout the night gives her a sense of peace.

Taking a seat on his chair, he notices that Emelie is sitting right next to him while Gabriella sits at his other side.

Smiling at her, he says, “Hey Em, you look great tonight.”

Emelie turns to him, looking at him like he’s a math problem that can’t be solved, “Thanks.” She turns her head back to Penelope, who quickly engages the two of them in conversation yet again, although Emelie seems distracted. Troy purses his lips very slightly and does the same, turning to Gabriella with a smile. Emelie isn’t interested in making conversation, then so be it.

“You okay?” He asks Gabriella softly, who looks at him with a smile.

“I am now,” she responds with a quiet giggle, “I was about to run away from the spotlight just as you came. Sorry if I bumped into you too hard, by the way.”

Troy waves it off, “Nah it’s not a problem. Anyway, I’m glad you didn’t. I really think you can win tonight…” He leans into her a bit as he speaks, his voice deep and low. Gabriella peers at him, tilting her head just a little bit unconsciously as her mind examines all of his features for the very first time in her life.

Troy Bolton’s eyes are a bright shade of cerulean, and overall very sharp and piercing. His jawline is defined strongly, something that is highlighted especially when he clenches his jaw, which he does as he continues to speak to her. He has dark brown hair, very similar to that of his mother, Hayley Marshall. As Gabriella continues to observe him, she realizes that his jawline is like his mother’s as well, at least from what she can remember from her few memories of Hayley. As he speaks, she notices how his lips curl into this small, playful smirk once-in-a-while, one that reminds her very much of Klaus. Troy narrows his blue eyes at her slightly, another image that reminds her of his dad. Gabriella doesn’t notice that Troy has stopped talking all together, however he’s looking at her with playful, dancing eyes. Of course, his unintentionally-flirtatious smirk accompanies the look.

“Gabriella?” He asks rather quietly, seemingly stifling a chuckle.

She clears her throat, “Yeah? Sorry, got a bit lost in my thoughts there.”

Troy’s smirk widens, “Did I just catch you staring at me? Or should I say, _gazing_?” Gabriella slaps his arm, both of them bursting out into laughter that attracts some attention from the other contestants on the table. Emelie looks at them from the corner of her eye, the sharp look of envy still swimming in her brown pupils.

“Please, get over yourself. Arrogance isn’t attractive,” Gabriella says with a roll of her eyes, a smirk playing on her lips.

“Are you sure? I mean you were just checking me out, so I don’t know…”

“Troy, I was _not_ checking you out. For what reason would I ever do such a thing?”

“They say I’m irresistible,”

“Who the hell is ‘they’ though?”

“I have no clue,” Troy says, making both of them burst into laughter yet again.

Gabriella’s eyes turn pensive for a moment, “I was actually noticing how much you look just like them.”

“Who?”

“Your parents,” she says more quietly, worried that Troy might get upset by the mention of them. Much to her relief, he smiles at her words instead.

With a soft chuckle, he replies, “I get that a lot, yeah. Most people think I’m a pretty equal mix of both my mom and dad.” Gabriella nods with a smile.

“You definitely are, there’s a bit of Hayley and a bit of Klaus. And then some things that are unique to just you,” she says, making Troy furrow his eyebrows a bit in question.

“Like what?”

“There are many things, but to name one: the immodesty,”

“Ha ha, so funny,” Troy sighs and rolls his eyes, “I’m not as conceited as you think I am.”

“Yeah, okay,” she says with a chuckle.

“Not nearly as conceited as you, love,” he says to her, his lips curled into a smirk and his blue eyes dancing. The evening lighting makes his eyes sparkle, and Gabriella can’t help but notice.

“Your eyes are very pretty,” she blurts out, her eyes widening once she realizes what she just said. Troy takes a deep breath, trying his utmost hardest to contain his laughter.

“Thank you,” he says, widely smiling as he continues to stifle his laugh, “that was incredibly random, but I appreciate the compliment.”

“I swear to god, someone tape a coffee filter to my mouth,” she says, wincing and shaking her head at herself in humiliation.

Troy raises his one hand slightly, “I’ll gladly do the honors!” Gabriella puts her hand over her mouth as her shoulders shake as a result of her laughter. Troy looks down, chuckling as well.

“You guys are adorable,” they hear a voice say from the other side of Gabriella, making both of their heads turn simultaneously, “Literally, I wish my boyfriend wasn’t so bland. He’s barely making conversation, let alone cracking jokes.” The dark-skinned girl seems to be about the same age as them, with light brown hair and green eyes.

“Oh! Um, well we aren’t together,” Gabriella says with a chuckle, giving Troy a wide-eyed look of panic.

Troy chuckles, “We’re just friends. More like frenemies, actually.”

“Yeah, your boyfriend sounds a lot like my original escort, who actually dipped last minute. I was almost forced to make my entrance alone, until Troy saved the day,” Gabriella says with a small smile, looking at Troy from the corner of her eye.

“That’s still adorable though!” The girl says with a tender smile, “I don’t really have any friends like that either. So this is just… refreshing to see, I guess.”

Troy outstretches his hand with a charming smile, “Well, like she said, I’m Troy. What’s your name?”

“Kym Hawkins,” she says with a smile much wider than her last one, and Troy’s eyes seem to flicker with recognition.

“Wait, as in Kaleb Hawkins’ sister? He told me his sister was competing as well,” Troy chuckles slightly, “I totally forgot, but hey, I’m glad we got to meet.”

“I’m Gabriella,” she shakes Kym’s hand with a smile, “I’ve heard plenty about you from Kaleb. You used to live in Atlanta, right?”

Kym nods her head, “Yep, but then I moved here, considering Kaleb was attending school here. And he told me about this competition, and I thought I’d try. I kinda regret it, not gonna lie.”

Gabriella gives Kym’s boyfriend a bitter look before turning to her again, “Just try to enjoy yourself anyway. We’ll keep you company.”

“I’d love that,” Kym smiles softly, “I also kinda wanted to be an intern at this school… except I don’t know how to do that. I haven’t gotten the chance to ask Kaleb yet.”

“Oh you can ask the headmistress,” Troy looks in Caroline’s direction, who is standing in the far corner, conversing with one of the judges, “and I’m sure she’ll help you out.”

“I’m actually the headmistress’ daughter,” Gabriella says with a sense of pride in her voice, “so I’ll let her know. She’ll probably have time to talk to you about it tomorrow.”

“Thank you guys so much! And I mean, considering Kaleb’s a vampire,” Kym’s voice becomes much quieter, “I know that working here will mean keeping everything confidential.”

“Yeah, we try to keep everything within the walls of the school. We’re only hosting this pageant because Troy suggested it,” Gabriella turns to Troy amusedly, her eyebrows raised. He raises his eyebrows as well, turning to Kym with a smirk.

“You know why? Because _she_ created an incident during a game of flag football with the local high school,”

“And I’m guessing all the humans were on their toes after?” Kym says.

“Exactly,” Troy smirks at Gabriella, who groans and rolls her eyes.

“It was an accident, I swear,” she says to Kym, who chuckles softly.

“I understand. I mean, I really don’t, considering I’m human unlike my brother. But I do get that bad things happen sometimes,” They all turn their heads towards the servers as they emerge with their plates of food, “Well, it really was nice talking to you. Hopefully we’ll get to do so more if I become an intern here.”

“I’ll make sure it happens, Kym. Enjoy the food,” Gabriella says with a soft smile as they straighten themselves in their seats, everyone picking up their forks and knives to dig into the food in front of them.

Everyone but Troy and Gabriella, of course.

Gabriella takes a deep breath, nauseously peering at the plate in front of her, “Uhm, I’m not really that hungry.”

Troy swallows hard, “Yeah, me neither. But I’m guessing it’s gonna look awful if we don’t eat anything at all…”

“I literally wanna throw up thinking about eating this,” Gabriella whispers almost desperately. Troy scans his eyes around the table and leans into Gabriella.

“We can’t just not eat anything, Gabi,”

“Put a cloaking spell on our food then. If you won’t, then I will,” Gabriella says. Troy takes a look at the food in front of him, feeling just as sick as her.

With a sigh, he looks at her, “Why don’t we use this as an opportunity—“

“To do what?” Gabriella interrupts, her eyes narrow as she suspects what he might be suggesting.

“To eat,”

“That’s the problem, Troy. I don’t really do that. I mean obviously, you don’t know too much about this, but I don’t really eat much, and I can’t even fathom putting anything in my mou—“

“Gabriella, I don’t eat anything throughout the day,” he says in a low voice, looking her straight in the eyes before averting them a few moments after.

She opens her mouth to respond, but nothing comes out. She thinks about all the times she’s seen him eat anything… there’s practically nothing in her head. Only a berry or two at breakfast maybe, and that’s only a few days a week. He’s not even there during meals, and she used to feel grateful for his absence when they hated each other’s guts, but now it only explains what he just told her.

“You… you have an eating problem, too?” She asks very softly, making sure her voice is audible to only him.

“Yes,” Troy says simply, although he doesn’t seem in the mood to explain any further; of course not, considering they’re sitting at the center of a crowded banquet hall.

Gabriella bites the inside of her cheek before sighing, “All right, so what are you saying? That we eat as much of this dinner as we can?”

“Yeah, because why not? Trust me, I wanna throw up too, but maybe we should at least try,”

“Fine, I’ll try,”

“Let’s start small,”

“Um, everything on this plate is big, though,” Gabriella scrunches her nose unnoticeably at the piece of salmon.

“That’s not true, there’s vegetables,”

“Yeah, I guess they aren’t that big,”

“Wanna start with a mushroom?”

Gabriella swallows, “Oh dear god no.”

Troy pulls his lips into a thin line, “Gabi, you’re gonna have to pick something.”

“You pick!” She aggressively whispers.

“I just did! And you just rejected it!” Troy aggressively whispers back.

“Fine! Let’s start with, um,” she scans her plate before her eyes fall upon a small leaf of sautéed spinach, “the spinach. Unless you’re one of those people that hates green vegetables.”

Troy scoffs, “Do you really think I’d be that childish?”

“Have you met yourself?”

“I have actually,” Troy says with a smirk, to which Gabriella rolls her eyes.

“Just shut up and eat the spinach,” she says, pushing her fork into the tiny seasoned spinach leaf. She watches Troy do the same from the corner of her eye, watching him look at the spinach with a quizzical look.

“Troy?”

“Yeah?”

“Why do you seem like you’re contemplating your life decisions right now?” She stifles a laugh as he looks at her with a slightly irritated expression.

“Because I am,” he says, a minuscule smirk making its way onto his face as they both quickly bring the fork to this mouth, allowing the spinach to enter their mouths. Both of them barely have to chew it, considering the pieces they picked were incredible small, however it still looks as if they’re struggling to get it down their throats.

“So how’s the food?” They hear Penelope ask from the other side of Emelie.

Troy swallows hard, “Great, how do you like it?”

“I think it’s delicious, especially the salmon. Gabriella, you haven’t even touched your salmon, maybe you should try it,” Penelope says with a smirk.

“Leave me be, demon spawn. I’ll eat what I want to,”

“Aww,” Penelope pouts condescendingly, “is someone a picky eater?”

“Stop,” Emelie suddenly says, her voice firm but soft. She puts her hand on Penelope’s forearm, causing the latter to drop her smirk and return to her food.

“This is why I’m never there during meals,” Troy whispers to Gabriella, rolling his eyes, “I’d probably just get a parade of nosy questions about why I’m not eating.”

“Yeah like I do,” she replies with a scoff, “and I don’t think you would. No one would do that to the tribrid. You’re too well liked… or feared. Maybe both.” Troy chuckles lightly as they both turn to their plates again, feeling awful in their stomachs.

“I don’t wanna eat anymore,” Gabriella whispers, curling her lips into a small frown.

“Me neither,” Troy sighs, “Cloaking spell it is.”

After the dinner, there’s the traditional ballroom dance; the steps and movements are standard and date back to several centuries ago, meaning all the Generation Alpha contestants rehearsed very hard for it. Slip-ups in the dance usually mean a definite loss, as the judges are carefully watching.

The problem: Gabriella left rehearsal. She knows what she has to do, but she’s not totally prepared.

The other problem: Troy never rehearsed at all.

All of the contestants make their way onto the dance floor, everyone in their starting positions. The music begins, and all of the contestants begin moving slowly and elegantly with their partners.

Troy and Gabriella face their palms to each other, keeping a distance between them as they slowly move in a circle.

“No way you learned the entire dance just from watching us,” Gabriella asks, referring to when he was standing to the side during rehearsals.

“You’re right, because I was barely paying attention anyway,” he replies with an amused smile, “I actually know the dance because of my aunt.”

“Rebekah or Freya?” Gabriella asks, and Troy is slightly taken aback. Everyone knows the Mikaelsons, but Gabriella speaks as if she’s known them for years. The tone of her voice makes Troy smile unconsciously.

“Aunt Rebekah,”

“The hopeless romantic,”

“The book thief,”

“The giver of this beautiful dress,”

“Eh,” Troy responds with a smirk, “she only delivered it. I was the one who gifted it, so I think I deserve credit for that.”

“Oh shut up,” Gabriella giggles as they both continue to go through the steps of the dance, “Anyway, she taught you this dance?”

Troy nods, “When I was only ten or eleven, I think. It was a weekend, and she just randomly told me that I need to learn this dance. I was so much shorter than her at the time, and she was just peering over me trying to teach me how to do a dance from the 1500s.” Both of them chuckle softly, Troy reminiscing in the memory.

“She was right, wasn’t she? You ended up needing that dance practice after all,” Gabriella says with a playful smile. Troy and Gabriella lock their eyes together as the dance progresses into the waltz portion. He tenderly puts his hand on her back, his palm half-touching half-hovering over her skin. She rests her one hand on his shoulder, her other hand being taken by his as they follow through with the steps of the waltz.

Penelope’s eyes are focused on Emelie’s, however the latter’s eyes seem to flicker toward Gabriella and Troy almost every few seconds.

Penelope can’t take it anymore as she says, “You seem distracted, Em.” Her voice is soft, but the hint of irritation can clearly be heard.

Emelie looks back to Penelope, her eyes dazed, “Huh? No, no I’m not distracted.”

Penelope scoffs, “You’ve been looking at your sister and Troy all night.”

“Everyone has,” Emelie mutters bitterly, resisting the urge to roll her eyes.

“Why do you care so much, Emelie? Who cares what your sister’s doing if it has nothing to do with you?” Penelope can barely hide the desperation and frustration in her voice, and Emelie certainly notices this time.

“Why do _you_ care so much? I’m not even allowed to look at other people now?”

“That’s not what I’m saying. You’re wasting your energy on your sister. She’s selfish, needy, and will do anything to land on top. You can’t change her, so leave her alone. And Troy…” Penelope pauses to chuckle, “Honey, I totally feel you. Everyone’s got a crush on him. But that’s the point: there’s no point in pining after someone who’s a recluse and has literally the entire population going after him too.”

Emelie furrows her eyebrows in suspicion, “I never told you I had a crush on Troy.”

Penelope raises her eyebrows with a smirk, “It’s obvious. You’re totally drooling over him, and it’s understandable. But he’s a tribrid. And a Mikaelson. And a reclusive guy who doesn’t really engage in relationships with people. So why try?”

Emelie swallows hard, “You’re only saying that because you want me to date you instead.”

“That may or may not be true,” Penelope smiles softly, “but it’s also because I want you to be happy. I don’t want you to be constantly occupied by Selfish Gabi and an unrealistic infatuation with Troy Bolton.” Emelie bites her bottom lip slightly, and a part of her wants to agree. A part of her wants to just let it go as Penelope recommends, but another part of her wants to win. Not just the Miss Mystic Falls crown, but the game. The game she’s been playing with her sister since the very beginning: she crushes on someone, and Gabi snatches them away just as quickly.

“Gabi always gets the man, but not this time. It’s not fair to me,” Emelie says quietly.

Penelope furrows her eyebrows, “This isn’t a game, Em.”

“Yes it is! It very much is a game; at least it always has been for Gabi!”

“Who the hell cares if she looks at dating as a game? There are people out there who would pick you over Gabriella in a heartbeat, people who genuinely love you for who you are, and I’m one of them!”

“This isn’t about you!”

“I know it isn’t,” Penelope licks her bottom lip quickly, “It’s about you. It’s about you putting yourself through unnecessary pain, as you always have.”

“Well that’s my decision, and you can’t stop me. You can’t make these decisions for me, Penelope. Tonight I’m gonna tell Troy about my crush on him, and you can’t stop me,” Emelie exhales sharply, ending their conversation as suddenly as it had started.

Penelope purses her lips, and then drops her eyes to the ground. She wonders to herself if pining after Emelie is as hopeless a situation as Emelie pining after Troy.

Troy and Gabriella continue to dance on the other end of the banquet hall, both engaged in a conversation. Emelie spots Troy leaning in slightly toward Gabriella, saying something that causes her to laugh.

Gabriella looks at Troy with a soft smile, “I just want to say… thank you. For everything that you’ve done for me in the past two days. I don’t really know how I’m gonna repay you.”

“Woah, you don’t have to repay me for anything, especially considering I didn’t do much,” Troy says, returning her smile.

Gabriella rolls her eyes, “Are you serious? I can literally list everything you’ve done in the past forty-eight hours that has saved me from social disaster.” Troy looks down to the floor as he chuckles, lifting his blue eyes toward her a few moments after.

“Well, I’ll take credit for the dress, how’s that?”

“No, you’ll be taking credit for everything. But yeah, the dress was definitely your best contribution,” Gabriella chuckles before her smile fades a bit. She swallows hard and looks in her mother’s direction. At that same moment, Caroline’s eyes fall upon Gabriella with a smile, although her eyes still look like they’re lost in thought. Gabriella stares at her mom for a bit, hoping she can somehow telepathically ask for her approval to tell Troy about the _real_ history of the dress. Caroline seems to understand, as she nods slightly at her daughter.

Gabriella’s eyes fall back on Troy’s again, which seem to have been pointed at her the entire time she was looking at Caroline.

“So this dress… there’s actually more to it than you think,” Gabriella starts off, causing Troy to furrow his eyebrows a bit.

“Hmm, what do you mean that?”

“You told me that your father gave it to a woman he loved, and she gave it back, right?” Troy nods in response, “Yeah, well that woman… was my mother.”

Troy’s feet nearly trip upon each other as he stops moving for a split second, although no one seems to notice, not even Gabriella.

His eyes are stern and sharp, the cerulean blue a bit darker, “My dad gave it to your mom?”

“Yeah, and it might seem like some mix up… but it isn’t. My mom confirmed it herself. Your dad and my mom really did have a thing for each other,” Gabriella’s voice is soft and slow, as her own mind tries to process the fact. Everything has been happening so fast recently, and the whole revelation about her mom and Klaus Mikaelson hasn’t really hit her yet.

Until now.

“Woah,” Troy breathes out, looking at Gabriella with his eyebrows raised. He turns his head toward Caroline, who he thinks must have been listening with her vampire hearing. It seems he’s correct as Caroline is carefully watching the two of them, and her eyes stare back into Troy’s from the distance, a mix of emotions exchanging between the two.

“I don’t know if this is the type of thing you wanted to hear tonight, because I know you don’t really like to talk about your parents that much,” Gabriella carefully looks at Troy, “but I thought you deserved to know.”

“Thank you for telling me,” he responds softly, his lips curling into a very small smile.

Gabriella’s smile is wider as she says, “It’s funny how this dress ended up in the same family line twice though, isn’t it?”

Troy chuckles softly, “It’s funny, and weird. Of all the dresses that my aunt could’ve ended up choosing to send, she sent this one. And she has absolutely no clue who you are or who your family is… so this was just one big coincidence.”

Gabriella shrugs slightly, “It’s beautiful, and that’s all that matters.”

Troy purses his lips and swallows nervously, “Is your mom okay with… you know, me giving you her dress? I hope it didn’t create any trouble, as most things that have to do with my dad do.” Gabriella immediately shakes her head, looking at Caroline who is now engaged in conversation with one of the judges yet again.

“It didn’t, especially since she told me _right_ before you walked into my room yesterday, about how she would’ve loved for me to wear this dress. If only she had it… well plottwist! The tribrid from across the hallway has it instead!” Gabriella says in an excessively peppy tone, making Troy laugh. Gabriella joins him soon after, both of them laughing as they unconsciously follow the repeated steps of the waltz around the ballroom floor. Eyes are on them, even Penelope’s, as their informal but attractive communication with one another makes everyone in the room green with jealously. Compared to the frenemy duo, no one looks nearly as happy to be there on that dance floor than them.

Gabriella, still smiling, takes a deep breath, “I haven’t laughed this hard in a while.”

“Oh trust me, neither have I,” Troy says, his voice lower and softer. His cerulean eyes are bright and pointed directly at Gabriella’s brown eyes, which perfectly reflect the sparkling of the golden chandelier above.

Neither of them notice how much more comfortable they’ve gotten with each other. Troy’s carefully hovering hand on her back is now resting in ease on her skin. Gabriella’s hand gently placed on the very top of his shoulder is now gripping his shoulder, her fingers curled around the joint snugly. The distance between them isn’t as prominent, however not too close either. They allow their thoughts and words to be openly expressed in the air between them, as most good friends would.

“Good evening!” The primary judge’s voice booms into the microphone yet again, “I believe it is time to present the winner of the Miss Mystic Falls Pageant of 2028!” All of the contestants end their dance with elegant bows and curtsies, turning their full attention to the judge afterwards.

Penelope grips Emelie’s arm as they await the results, smiling at each other in hopes of winning. All of the pairs in the room are doing the same, except for Troy and Gabriella, who are simply standing next to one another, hands to themselves.

“Our new Miss Mystic Falls is… Gabriella Montez!” The judge exclaims into the microphone, the name of the new pageant winner filling the vast banquet hall as cheers erupt from the guests.

“Oh my god,” Gabriella whispers to herself, absolutely stunned. It’s at this moment that Troy does touch her, lightly on her shoulder to turn her so she’s facing him.

Troy is beaming as his blue eyes do the same, “You did it!” Gabriella’s stunned expression turns into an elated one as the news registers in her head.

With an overjoyed laugh, she says, “Holy crap, yes I did!” Both of them pull each other into a tight hug as the judges approach Gabriella, the 2028 pageant sash and bouquet of flowers in their hands. Troy releases her as she turns to the judges, giving her a bit of space so the spotlight is focused on her and only her. One of the other judges allows the sash to gracefully fall into place over her body, and her mother approaches to hand her the bouquet of flowers.

Caroline is smiling widely as she comes over, wrapping her arms around Gabriella tightly and excitedly.

“Oh my goodness, you did it! One of my babies is Miss Mystic Falls,” Caroline laughs as Gabriella beams back at her.

“The legacy lives on!” Gabriella chuckles, the spotlight still on her as cheers continue to ring out within the hall.

She turns her head toward Emelie, who’s smiling softly at her sister, although there’s a hint of defeat in her eyes. Gabriella outstretches her hand, offering it to Emelie so they can both stand in the spotlight together. Emelie hesitates for a moment, before her own smile turns into an ear-to-ear grin. She walks up to Gabriella and takes her hand, hugging her tightly with the other arm.

“Congratulations sis,” Emelie says softly as they embrace. A part of her doesn’t want to tell Troy about her crush anymore. A part of her doesn’t feel as bitter toward her sister as she stands in the spotlight with her, feeling proud of Gabriella.

Emelie turns her head slightly and catches Troy standing at a little distance behind Gabriella, clapping his hands and gleaming at her. He’s standing at an angle at which he can see Gabriella’s side profile, and he seems to be admiring it as he widely smiles and continues to applaud for her. His blue eyes are on her and only her, as if she’s the only person in the room.

Emelie’s smile fades a bit as she turns back to the front, her thoughts weaning back to the same place they were before.

_I have to tell him._

—

It is now 11:45 p.m., and Gabriella is fast asleep on her bed. The grayish-blue dress from that evening is folded neatly into the same black box in which it was gifted to her.

Emelie is lying in a supine position on her bed, her eyes glued to the ceiling as she contemplates what to do. _It’s already late into the day; in a few minutes, it’ll literally be tomorrow. It’s just a sign that you shouldn’t tell him._ Thoughts continue to rush in and out of Emelie’s head.

 _But if you don’t tell him today, you probably won’t tell him tomorrow. Or the day after. Or ever. And you really like him… very much, actually. You have to do it now._ She sighs to herself.

Carefully and quietly, Emelie swings her legs off the side of the bed, lifting herself out of the sheets and taking herself to the door. She takes a look at Gabriella, who is sleeping soundly within the closure of her blankets, however Em knows that Gabriella has a tendency to randomly wake up in the night. As a result, she moves back toward her bed and spreads out her blanket over a long pillow, making it look as if there’s someone lying in bed. It’s not some top secret mission of course, but Gabriella might get worried if she doesn’t see Emelie there in the middle of the night.

She turns the knob and opens the door, slipping out discreetly and shutting the door behind her. Just a step away is her destination: Room WI14, belonging to Troy Bolton.

Emelie faintly knocks on the door, not too loud but enough for him to hear, if he’s awake that is. Several moments pass, and there’s no response, causing Emelie to disappointedly turn her back to his door.

_Yet another sign that you shouldn’t tell him._

Emelie is about to step back toward her room when she hears the door open behind her. She whips her head around to face the charming, blue-eyed boy that stands in the doorway. His one hand is on the door while his other hand is leaning on the doorframe. He’s clad in all black, which is typical for him, and everything about him looks as awake as it can be. Emelie doesn’t notice the slight tiredness in his eyes, however, as her attention is focused on the stunning smile he’s giving her.

“Hey Em,” he says in a soft tone, as everyone else in their hallway is probably asleep.

Emelie gives him a wide smile, “Hey, um, sorry for disturbing you. Are you busy right now?”

“Nope, do you need something?”

She nods slightly, “I kinda need to talk to you about something. More like, tell you about something I’ve wanted to tell you for a long while.” Troy looks at her quizzically for a short moment before nodding, closing the door behind him and standing directly in front of her in the hallway. She has to crane her head up a bit to look at him, as he stands at a height much higher than hers. She’s as tall as Gabriella, which is ironically pretty short. Five feet and two inches, to be exact.

“What’s up?” He asks her, putting his hands in his pocket. Most people look as if they’re nervous when they do the same thing, but not Troy. It gives him an added air of confidence somehow, only making him harder to interact with. Emelie’s stomach is literally twisted into knots as she tries to focus on her words rather than… him.

“Uh, all right well—“ Emelie puts her hand on her forehead, chuckling nervously, “This is hard for me to do, sorry.”

Troy shakes his head with a small smile, “No no, don’t worry. Take your time, Em.” His curiosity is burning within him as he tries to think of what she could possibly be trying to tell him. Something that’s making her so intensely anxious. Something that she has decided to tell him at nearly midnight.

Emelie exhales before starting again, “First of all, I just wanted to say sorry about yesterday. I was being a bitch to Gabi, and I mean it’s just sisterly troubles, but at the same time it’s not. I’ve been pissed at her for a multitude of reasons, some of them kinda stupid, and the way I acted yesterday probably made you view me as an awful person.” Troy can’t help but smile as she finishes.

“Em,” he takes a single step closer, making Emelie crane her head up even more as another knot forms in her stomach, “I’ve known you for years. You’re not an awful person, I know that.”

“And two, well Troy, I really—“ Emelie is interrupted by the opening of the door right behind her, which belongs to her and her sister. Gabriella steps out, not even looking up as she closes the door and holds a medium-sized black box in her one hand. She looks up and finds both her sister’s eyes and Troy’s eyes boring in her drowsy ones.

“Oh! I just interrupted something, didn’t I?” Gabriella says with a guilty wince, “I’m sorry, I was actually gonna just leave this outside your room.” She says to Troy, gesturing to the box in her arms.

“I don’t need the box back, it’s okay,” Troy says with a small chuckle.

Gabriella rolls her eyes, “It’s not just the box, it’s the dress. I have it folded just as it was before.”

Troy waves his hands in front of him, “Woah hold up, why are you giving the dress back?”

“Because it’s not mine,”

“I didn’t lend it to you, I gifted it to you. It’s yours now. Especially considering it belonged to your mom at some point,” Troy says with a small smile, turning to Emelie, “You know about that, right?”

Emelie chuckles lightly, “Yeah, I heard a bit about it.” She awkwardly crosses her arms, looking down at the ground as Troy turns back to Gabriella.

“Are you sure, Troy?”

Troy sighs and smiles faintly, “Yes, it’s yours.”

Gabriella bites her bottom lip while smiling, “All right then, I’ll keep it. I’ll also leave you two to your conversation, sorry for interrupting.”

Emelie is about to resume as soon as Gabriella shuts the door when Troy suddenly says, “Oh, um, Gabi?”

“Yeah?” She says, turning around to face him again.

“Are you going back to sleep?” Troy asks Gabi as Em’s frustration rises. _I was literally talking to him, why is he starting another conversation with her? Does he even remember that I’m here?_

Gabriella groans slightly, “Nope. I kinda just woke up and saw the box, and then thought to leave it by your door before I forget. And now I’m too awake to fall back asleep. I’ll probably, like, read a book or something.”

“Ah, let me guess,” Troy says with a smirk, “Jane Austen?”

Gabriella presses her lips together to hide her smile, “Definitely not.” Troy laughs softly and shakes his head.

“Whatever you say…”

Emelie feels an overwhelming sense of irritation overcome her as she’s completely left out of a conversation that shouldn’t have been started in the first place. _She_ was talking to Troy first, so why does Gabi get a go at it instead? Emelie decides that she’s never going to get her chance if she doesn’t just interrupt. The same way Gabriella interrupted them (however, it was unintentional on her part) a few moments ago.

“Troy,” Emelie says in a firm tone, making him turn his head, “I have a crush on you.” Troy’s smile from his exchange with Gabi drops immediately, and his bright blue eyes morph into a darker shade.

“What?” He whispers quietly, his eyes glued on Emelie as Gabriella stands frozen in the doorway of her bedroom. Neither of them were expecting that.

“I have a crush on you,” Emelie repeats in a softer tone, her pupils dilated as she looks at Troy’s stunned expression, “and I’ve had one for many months, maybe even a year or two. I wanted to tell you before, but I didn’t. In fact, I went along with Gabi in dissing you, even though I didn’t want to.”

“Why?” Troy asks in a soft but hoarse whisper.

“Because I didn’t want Gabi to know the truth,” Emelie says quietly, feeling her sister’s eyes burning into her back.

“Wait, why would it matter that I knew?” She can hear Gabriella say, her voice soft as well.

“Because my whole life, any time I’ve ever liked anyone, you go for them,” Emelie licks her lips nervously, “and you always win.” She turns back to Troy, seeing his face a bit less stunned, but rather pensive.

A very small smile appears upon his lips, “You’ve had a crush on me this whole time?”

Emelie sighs, “Of course I do… who doesn’t?”

Troy’s smile spreads into a grin as he looks at the ground, a soft chuckle escaping his lips. For once, he just looks like a normal teenage kid, one that’s flattered and a bit flustered after hearing that a sweet and pretty girl likes him. Emelie admires the sight with a soft smile of her own, the anxiety from her stomach relieving a bit.

Troy lifts his eyes and they immediately fall upon Gabriella, who has his eyes fixed on him as well. She has her arms crossed over her black crop top, her stance rigid. Her eyes are sharp and narrow, although not fixed in a glare. Her lips are pulled into a tight line, and she seems to be deep in thought.

Troy’s smile fades as he takes in her appearance: the tiredness evident under her eyes, the awkwardness evident in her stance, and the hurt evident in her dark brown pupils.

“I’m gonna go back to sleep now. Goodnight,” she says curtly, immediately turning back and walking into her dorm room, closing the door behind her without looking back.


	5. Chapter 5

“God it’s too early,”

“Early isn’t a bad thing. If you do it right, getting up early can mean being more productive. You’re literally obsessed with being productive, so…”

“I’m also obsessed with getting my sleep, thank you very much,” Gabriella says with a groan, dragging herself alongside Troy, both of them heading to the dock next to the lake.

Troy and Gabriella have their black, fingerless combat gloves on, which have extra padding over the knuckles. Troy’s grey shirt is perfectly fitted, with his pectorals and biceps wrapped rather closely by the fabric. Gabriella’s wearing a cropped sage green t-shirt with black sweatpants that hug her waist tightly.

“All right, well you wanted to tag along,”

“When you said you train in the morning, I thought you meant like— seven in the morning!”

“That’s literally an hour before the first class! Somehow, in some way, I’m always needed,” Troy says with a roll of his eyes.

“That’s on you for being leader of the Honor Council,”

“Your mother literally offered it to me! So I took the job!”

“You could’ve said no!”

“I—“ Troy pulls his lips into a thin line, “you have a point. Anyway, it’s only 5:30 am.”

“Only?” Gabriella looks at him incredulously.

Troy sighs, “Do you want to do the training or not?”

She groans again, “Yeah, yeah, I do. So do you usually do combat training or archery practice at this ungodly hour of day?”

Troy can’t help but chuckle quietly, “Archery, because you need a partner for combat, you know? What am I gonna do, punch the morning air?”

Gabriella rolls her eyes, “Geez, I was just wondering.”

He chuckles again, “And I’m just answering!”

A small smile makes it way onto her lips as they get to the dock, “But today you have a marvelous partner for combat, so I suggest you cherish it.” With a flip of her hair, she passes him and stations herself across from him, pulling her combat gloves a bit tighter onto her hands. She observes quietly as Troy does the same, his face a bit less comical than before.

The smile returns to his face as he looks up, “Ready?”

“Yep,” she replies, holding up her fists in front of her, her knees bent slightly.

“So who’s throwing the first punch?”

“It should come by surprise, no?”

Troy shrugs, “Well this isn’t class, so there aren’t any rules.”

Gabriella bites her bottom lip slightly, “Hmm, yeah. No rules…” Troy nods his head as Gabriella bites the inside of her cheek, seeming to be lost in her thoughts. Troy relaxes his stance a bit as she evidently zones out, his own mind zoning out a bit.

He doesn’t know what hit him.

The next moment, Troy is lying flat on his back, the jagged wood of the dock digging into his shirt a bit. He finds himself looking at the half-light half-dark sky above him, a few clouds floating here and there. Gabriella’s emerges from the side, towering over him and giggling.

“Didn’t expect the tribrid would be so unprepared,”

Troy scoffs, comfortably resting on the ground as he looks at her peering over him, “Oh please, I was giving you time to think of a move.”

“A little _too much_ time,” She says with a laugh, holding her stomach as he rolls his eyes. He suddenly outstretches his left leg to the side, hitting the base of her jet black sneakers with his super strength, causing her to flip over and land on her back on the ground.

Gabriella groans slightly as the wood hits her back roughly. She turns her head to the side while lying on the ground, finding that she’s now lying right next to him.

“More like not enough time,” Troy says in a low whisper, smirking at her. He lifts himself to his feet effortlessly, nearly jumping into a standing position (something he can do easily as a result of his wolf strengths). He outstretches his arm to her, offering his hand to lift her up as well. Gabriella pouts at him playfully as she takes his hand, however she doesn’t expect the immensely strong pull that brings her to her feet.

“Woah!” She unintentionally exclaims as Troy’s grip brings her onto her feet again.

He smirks, “Too strong for you?”

“Troy,” she says in a monotone voice, her eyes bored, “Shut up. Please.”

“Whatever you say,”

Gabriella’s leather-covered fist flies at Troy, which he catches with his one hand, using it to pull her to his other side. Expecting her to stumble and fall as a result, Troy doesn’t even bother turning around to look at her.

Gabriella, a former competitive ballerina, has different plans. She flawlessly using the balls of her feet to catch herself, regaining balance almost immediately. She throws yet another punch from behind, hitting his right triceps. She outstretches her leg in the air, swinging it medially so it crashes into the side of Troy’s core.

He immediately grabs her ankle, causing her to fall backwards and to the ground again, but she catches herself on her palms.

“Oh you wish,” she says with a laugh as she springs back up to her feet, back in fighting stance with her fists balled and her knees bent.

Troy advances first this time, his fist aimed at her collarbone, which Gabriella fails to block effectively. His werewolf strength is evident as a rush of pain radiates through her clavicle, however she chooses to ignore it.

“I was hoping you’d block that,” Troy says with an unconscious clench of his jaw, eyeing her collarbone.

Gabriella purses her lips, “Try again.”

Troy shakes his head, “No, I hurt you, didn’t I?”

“This is combat training. What’s with all the soft emotions?”

He chuckles rather bitterly, “Soft emotions? You’re gonna be the one showing a great deal of emotions when your clavicle buckles under pressure.”

She smirks at him, “Well it’d have to buckle first, right? Try again.”

His fist comes at her again, this time aimed at her shoulder. The speed of his hit makes it practically imperceptible, once again preventing Gabriella from providing defense.

She grunts a bit as she staggers backward a step, looking at him with her eyes as narrow as slits.

“You’re one of the best at combat in the school,” Troy says with a questioning look in his blue eyes, “what’s going on right now, though?”

“I hate to admit it tribrid,” she sighs, “but you’re too fast for me.”

Troy shakes his head, “I bet I’m not, I think you’re just sleepy.”

“Don’t make excuses for me. That’s nice of you, though,” Gabriella rolls her eyes with a small smile.

“Let me try something,”

“Uh, for what?”

“To wake you up,”

“Troy, it has nothing to do with being sleepy. You’re too fast for me,”

He sighs and gives her a stern look, “Gabriella, no offense, but part of the reason why people are horrified of you is because you’re kinda violent. But it comes in handy during combat, which everyone knows you’re great at. No way you can’t block a simple punch to your collarbone.”

“You are a _tribrid_ ,” Gabriella retorts, enunciating every syllable, “your punches are incredibly fast and much stronger than the average supernat—“

“Ad somnum,” Troy suddenly says, putting his clenched fist in the air. The incantation immediately causes Gabriella to fall into a deep sleep, and he catches her collapsed body with his one arm.

Carefully setting her on the ground, he says, “Surgere.” The incantation causes Gabriella to wake up with a start, a gasp escaping her throat.

Troy widely smiles at Gabriella, “Feeling better?” Gabriella looks up at him with confusion, shock, and anger swimming in her chocolate brown pupils.

“Troy,” she clenches her jaw, “did you just put a sleeping spell on me?”

“Yep, and then I put a sleeping _reversal_ spell on you, so I bet you’re feeling a lot more awake now,” Troy’s smile doesn’t falter although Gabriella is looking at him as if she’s going to put him into a permanent coma.

“That’s— damn it Troy that’s not cool!”

“Sure it is! Thanks to my brilliant thinking, you’re wide awake and back to your normally feisty and violent self. Now you can put on a _real_ fight,” Troy pats her shoulder as she gets up onto her feet, definitely feeling more energized than before, however there’s no way she’s telling him that.

“Ready for another go?” Troy asks with a small smirk.

Gabriella’s mouth stays in a thin line, “Yep.”

Troy retracts his fist a bit before advancing toward Gabriella’s other shoulder. Instead of being met with her shoulder joint, his fist hits the inside of her palm, which is grasping his fist rather tightly.

She twists his arm abruptly, causing a quiet grunt to unconsciously escape his lips. Gabriella grabs his t-shirt with her other hand, using all her strength to pull his body closer to hers. If he was resisting, pulling him would’ve been quite the feat for a witch with no super strength, but he’s not. Gabriella can tell it’s not because he’s letting her win; it’s because he didn’t expect this.

Troy’s face is centimeters away from Gabriella’s, causing both of them to breathe the same air. Their breathing paces are staggered and out of sync, making it sound like a commotion of wind in their ears.

“How dare you put me in a sleeping spell without my permission?” She spits out at him in a hoarse whisper.

Troy looks her up and down with just his eyes, “I’m _so_ sorry, love.” He can’t help but smirk as she yanks him a bit, her hand still tightly gripping his shirt. She releases him with a little push, not hesitating to put both her hands on his shoulders to shove him down to the ground. Troy falls on his knees with a stifled grunt, his hands instinctively gripping her wrists on both of his shoulders.

His eyes are on the same level as her abdomen as she towers over his kneeling figure, and he can’t help but notice the intensely toned abs muscles that peek out from her green crop top. _No doubt she trains and works out a lot, just as the rumors say._

Troy slowly lifts his cerulean eyes to meet her chocolate ones, which aren’t as angry anymore, but rather dancing excitedly. He’s carefully to not crane his neck too much, although he knows he probably already looks stupid in this position.

“All right, well the plan was not—“ Troy starts.

“Oh! Uhm—“ a male voice interrupts, making both Troy and Gabriella simultaneously whip their head toward the sound. They see MG on the walking path next to the dock, frozen in his spot as he observes Troy kneeling in front of a sweating Gabriella.

“A-am I interrupting something?” MG says nervously, his eyebrows furrowed suspiciously.

Troy returns the expression, narrowing his blue eyes, “What would you possibly be interrupting?”

MG clears his throat, “Nothing! Nothing at all, of course! Definitely doesn’t look like you two were up to something else.”

Gabriella scoffs, raising her eyebrows, “Keep talking and I’ll _ad somnum_ your ass!”

MG raises his hands in defense, “No no! Not necessary! I was just taking a morning walk around the school grounds, so I’m gonna get back to that! See you in class.” He chuckles nervously before rapidly walking away from their sight using the paved path.

Troy sighs, “Yeah so _anyway_ , as I was saying, the plan was not to get you angry too, but I guess it worked out rather nicely, right?”

Gabriella smirks, “Nicely indeed.” Troy returns the half upturn of his lips as he releases her wrists and she releases his shoulders.

Troy gets back up into standing position, brushing off his pants as Gabriella stands in front of him with her arms crossed.

“You only proved yourself wrong, you know,” he says, his eyes playfully narrowing at her.

“Yeah, yeah, I know,”

“So what I’ve learned from this combat training session is: sleep deprivation is Gabriella Montez’s biggest weakness. And her biggest strength is…” Troy rolls his tongue over the inside of his cheek, “her anger.” He smirks slightly before walking calmly to the edge of the dock, peering down at the water and then forward toward the wooded greenery across from them.

Gabriella stays in her spot, shuffling her feet a bit, “That’s the first time someone’s told me that my anger is an asset.”

Troy continues to face forward, “If controlled, almost anything can be asset.”

“Psychopathic behaviors can be an asset? A serial killer’s innate thirst for murder can be an asset?” Gabriella asks with a scoff.

Troy turns to her at last, “Let’s say we’ve got an enemy to kill. No one’s fit to kill the guy because no one’s crazy enough to step up for the job. Who are we going to call?”

“The superhero, of course,” Gabriella says sarcastically with a smirk.

“The serial killer. The psychopath. Whatever you wanna call it,” Troy says, shrugging his shoulders.

Gabriella bites the corner of her bottom lip, “That’s certainly an interesting outlook on life.”

“Can you guess who taught me that?”

Gabriella licks her lips, “Your father?” Her voice is soft as she asks the question, peering at Troy almost nervously. Troy smiles, but then shakes his head.

“Try again.”

“Your mother?”

“Not a family member, Gabi,”

“Then how am I supposed to know? I don’t know your other friends, unless you mean someone from this school. And I can’t think of anyone from this school who’d give such horribly perfect advice,” Gabriella giggles, but stops when Troy takes a step in her direction, his gloved hands in his pockets. Once again, the hands in his pockets always adds an air of confidence and intimidation to him. Even to Gabriella, who doesn’t find anyone intimidating, can feel the atmosphere change when Troy’s stance does. Similar to how the tides change based on the phases of the Moon.

Troy’s eyes pierce into her, “You did.” His voice is low and deep, but clear as it cuts through the air, making its way into Gabriella’s ears. The sunrise is now taking place, the colors of the morning rising above the horizon and blanketing the surrounding woods. In a matter of time, the colorful light will blanket them too.

“Me?” She asks incredulously.

Troy smiles slightly, “Do you not remember what you told me after the incident with Roman in New York City?”

Gabriella inhales, her body stiffening a bit, “Well I try not to think about that day too much.”

“Honestly I’ve tried to push it out of my head too, but just like all the other instances in my life where others have thrown themselves into danger to save me…” Troy’s sharp eyes soften a bit as he drops his stare to the wooden dock below, “I can’t get it out of my head.” Gabriella recognizes that he’s referring to his parents’ sacrifice, and her own eyes drop to the ground as well.

“I don’t think I’ve ever told you this, and I have a feeling that you don’t wanna hear this anymore. You’ve probably heard so many people say this, but…” she sighs, her voice quiet, “I’m sorry for your loss.”

Troy’s eyes immediately lift back up to her, taking in every detail of her face, which is slightly downturned. Gabriella feels his eyes burning into her, but she doesn’t want to look into them.

“Thank you,” he practically whispers, his lips turning into the smallest of smiles. Gabriella does finally look up, surprised to see not a single ounce of anger in his cerulean orbs. She returns the smile, feeling a pang of guilt as she realizes that she really has never told him that. She never offered her condolences, not even two years ago when it was being talked about quite literally in every corner of the supernatural community.

Troy sighs, a bit of life returning to his darkened eyes, “Are we really gonna talk about the darkest of things when the sunrise is happening? How paradoxical of us.” He chuckles, his smile revealing his pearly white teeth. Gabriella’s own smile widens as well, her eyes beginning to squint involuntarily as the bright light of the sunrise falls right upon them.

“Wanna go back to the school?” Gabriella asks, putting her hands in her pockets, unconsciously trying to imitate Troy. His naturally intimidating spirit has been the one thing about him that she’s always been jealous of, because while she’s also intimidating due to her aggressive tendencies, it’s also the crack in her armor. It keeps people away, while also giving others opportunities to attack her when she least expects it. Troy’s intimidation is different: it doesn’t make him one bit vulnerable, in fact it shields all of his vulnerability so well that no one would dare make a move on him.

“Sure, let’s go,” he says, allowing her to pass him as they both step off of the dock and back onto the paved nature walkway leading back to the main campus.

Gabriella is strolling in front of him, her gloved hands no longer in their pockets but rather swinging gracefully on her sides. They walk in a comfortable silence, however Gabriella breaks it very soon, as she usually does.

“All right, it’s been like two weeks now, and I think it’s finally okay for me to ask the question,” she says, making Troy eye her suspiciously from behind.

“Oh dear, what does that mean?”

“Why didn’t you tell Emelie that you liked her back?” Gabriella asks firmly and suddenly, completely catching Troy off guard.

Troy pauses for a moment, then chuckles softly, “Well, because I don’t. And because I care about your sister, I’m not gonna lie to her face.”

“You told me you wanted to escort her. _And_ get her a dress. Which you somehow ended up doing for me,” Gabriella giggles to herself, shaking her head slightly.

“Because you were desperately suffering as a result of your usual procrastination—“ Troy rolls his eyes playfully, “but anyway, yeah I did wanna do all of that. But that was a month ago? A little over a month ago, I think.”

“The pageant was two weeks ago, Troy,”

“I didn’t have any intention to get Emelie anything during pageant week itself, but the initial thought of me doing something nice for her to get her to like me… was pretty much a month ago. A bit before your birthday,”

Gabriella licks her lips, “Crushes don’t go away that fast, Troy.”

Troy furrows his eyebrows, “Uh, yes they do. Crushes shouldn’t even be taken seriously, if you ask me.”

“Every love story starts with a crush, so you might wanna shut up,”

“That’s not true,”

“How so?”

“Your favorite novel disproves you,”

“What? _Pride and Prejudice_?”

“Yep. I read it a while back, but as far as I remember, Elizabeth and Darcy find each other pretty undesirable. The dude _literally_ says something of the sort about her,”

Gabriella smiles to herself, “Yes he does.”

“But they end up getting falling in love and getting married, right? Well, when you put their entire relationship into view, you see that their love story started off entirely off of hate. No high school crushes here!” Troy says in a sarcastically cheery tone, making Gabriella groan.

“Fine, fine. You have a point— but still. I think you should reconsider how you feel about Em,”

Troy takes a few bigger strides in order to walk right beside her, looking down at her from over his shoulder, “Are you trying to set me up with your sister?” He raises his eyebrows when she looks into his eyes.

Gabriella bursts out laughing, “Please, Troy. You’ve got a couple dozen girls and guys that are interested in you. If anyone in this school needs matchmaking help, you’re certainly the last on the list.”

“Then why do you care so much?”

“Because,” Gabriella looks up at him and gives him a knowing look, “Emelie is my sister. And she has the biggest crush on you, and considering you told me literally the day before that you were planning on taking her out if it weren’t for that evil bitch Penelope Park, let’s just say I kinda had hope for you two. I was genuinely surprised when you two didn’t declare yourselves boyfriend and girlfriend the morning after.”

“If you’d stuck around for a minute longer, you would’ve known that nothing of the sort happened,”

“I couldn’t stick around after what she said about me, although it’s all been resolved now anyway,”

Troy sighs and looks at Gabriella, “I’m sorry about that, by the way.”

Gabriella furrows her eyebrows, “It’s got nothing to do with you, don’t apologize.”

Troy shrugs slightly, “It kinda does though, doesn’t it? I made you look even worse in front of people, especially Emelie. For some reason, I was so determined to convince her that you were a horrible sister.”

“Well I kinda am,”

Troy shakes his head immediately, “Not at all. Neither of you are horrible, but both of you think you are. The self-deprecation runs in the family, doesn’t it?” He smirks at her playfully.

“More like insecurity as a result of people judging us for being Kai Parker’s nieces,” Gabriella says with a scoff, her lips still upturned in a small smile, however Troy’s lips turn down in a small frown.

“I— sorry, I didn’t realize,”

“It’s fine, Troy. You apologize way too much, you know that?”

Troy scoffs, “No I don’t.”

“Maybe not to other people, but you sure do apologize a shit ton to me,”

“I spent years making sure you were miserable, let me apologize until I’ve forgiven myself, will you?”

“No, because now you’re making me feel bad for not apologizing enough,” Gabriella pouts at him and walks faster, feigning frustration. Troy snickers in the back, looking up at the school building as they approach it.

The antique-looking wooden architecture will always be impressive, regardless of how many times he sees it. It reminds him of the architecture back in New Orleans, his hometown. Also some buildings he’s seen in Europe when his aunt took him, although he was a bit too young to appreciate the architecture over the Italian gelato. The memory of gelato makes him feel sick to his stomach, as practically all food does. He swallows hard, pushing the thoughts out of his head as they begin to encounter other students who are roaming about the school grounds early in the morning.

—

“Sebastian the Merciless,” the professor reads from the textbook, “Around the late 1500's, Sebastian terrorized countless people not for hunger but mere sport. However, he fell in love with a witch named Cassandra on Roanoke Island and she was aware of his secret as a vampire.” The students write notes into their notebooks, everyone scribbling down “Cassandra” with an extra underline in case it's on their next test.

“Fearing that others would attack him, Cassandra summoned the Croatoan that would feed on anyone who has a secret however this backfired. The Croatoan would move for Cassandra who was forced to desiccate Sebastian to protect him after he learned her intentions. With his spirit detached from his body, Sebastian watch helplessly as his lover was fed on and died. When the Croatoan was sealed in Malivore, He lost most of his memories of her death.”

Gabriella raises her hand, “Is there any record of Sebastian’s death?”

“No,” the professor shakes her head, “As far as I know, he’s probably still alive.” The students shuffle in their seats a bit.

“Maybe he got his character development?” Emelie suggests, making some students chuckle as a result.

The class is dismissed to the dining hall for their lunch break, which Gabi and Em share with Troy and MG.

“Dude, we have archery training today,” MG says to Troy as they walk through the hallway and to the dining hall.

Troy turns his head, “No we don’t.”

“Yes we do, it’s Wednesday,”

Troy sighs, “Are you serious? Gabi and I have a yearbook meeting today, and I’ve already skipped so many.”

“Why?”

“Because I didn’t wanna go,” Troy smirks as MG chuckles, shaking his head.

“Well that’s on you, then,”

Troy rolls his eyes, “Yeah, yeah. That’s what they all tell me.” He remembers Gabriella telling him the same thing in the morning when he was complaining about his duties as leader of the Honor Council.

“So…” MG raises his eyebrows a bit, “Y’all were just training this morning, right?” Troy looks at MG with sharp blue eyes, his eyelids narrow but his pupils somehow wide at the same time.

“What else would we be doing?” Troy says in a low tone, putting heavy emphasis on every syllable.

“Calm down bro,” MG pats his shoulder as they continue to walk toward the dining hall, “It looked weird, so I just wanted to make sure.”

Troy chuckles, “I did something that made her angry, and next thing I knew she was shoving my knees into the wood.”

“Sounds like Gabriella!” MG says with a wide smile, making Troy chuckle again.

“Talking about me? I mean, who isn’t?” Gabriella flips her hair as both duos approach the French doors of the dining hall.

“Nope!” Troy says with a toothy grin, making Gabriella rolls her eyes. His eyes dart toward Emelie, who’s standing right beside Gabriella.

“Hey Em,” Troy says with a smile, which Emelie returns silently.

“I’m gonna head in, I’ll save you your spot,” Em says quietly to Gabriella as she passes through the doors, leaving the remaining three alone by the doors.

Troy watches Em guiltily for a moment before turning back to Gabriella, “We have archery training at the same time as yearbook, Gabi.”

She groans in response, “Are you kidding me? How are we supposed to do both?”

“I can ask to get the training moved. I can ask right now, actually,” MG says, pointing with his thumb toward the wing with their instructor’s office.

Gabriella smiles sweetly, “Thank you! I really don’t wanna miss either. I’m gonna head in, you coming?” She looks to Troy, who seems to be a bit zoned out.

He lifts his chin a bit, “Me?”

“Yeah no shit,”

Troy rolls his eyes, “Yeah, yeah I’m coming.” Gabriella has noticed him doing that a little too often recently, however she never questions it.

Gabriella and Troy head toward the table at which Emelie is sitting, with Kaleb, Kym, Penelope, and Alyssa at the table as well. A seat is saved for Gabriella next to Emelie, and there’s some other empty spaces after hers.

Penelope is sitting across from Emelie and eyes Troy and Gabriella walking in, a smirk spreading across her face.

“Wow, Troy Bolton attending lunch? You never did that before,” she says with a little eyebrow raise.

Troy smiles sarcastically, “I know, crazy right? I’ve suddenly decided that being an antisocial recluse isn’t the life for me.” Everyone else on the table snickers as he and Gabriella take their seats.

“Now now, no need to get bitter,” Penelope says, scooping up a bit of Greek yogurt in her clear plastic spoon, about to put it in her mouth. Gabriella points her finger at Penelope for a moment, and then flicks it upward, causing the yogurt to flip off of the spoon and onto Penelope’s shirt.

Penelope gasps and immediately rises from her seat, drawing attention from everyone on the table. She looks up and sees Gabriella with her manicured finger pointed at her, an evil smirk on her face.

“You bitch,” Penelope spits out.

“Now now, no need to get bitter,” Gabriella says in a sugarcoated tone, allowing a sour chuckle to escape from her throat. Troy stifles a snicker next to her, putting his head in his hand as his elbow leans on the table. Gabriella is faced away from Troy, and she ends up sitting in the same position, her elbow leaning on the table with her hand upholding her head.

Penelope walks away from the table, and no one really minds as Penelope and Gabriella on one table usually leads to chaos anyway. Emelie finds herself eyeing the frenemy duo beside her, both of them dressed in their school uniforms. Troy is wearing a white button-down shirt with black dress pants and black Valentinos. Gabriella is also wearing a white button-down shirt, the sleeves rolled up to her elbows as the shirt sits tucked neatly into her plaid skirt. She wears black stockings underneath with medium-sized black stiletto heels.

Emelie takes notice of how her sister and Troy are sitting in the same position with the same bored, boastful expressions on their faces. She can’t help but feel a pang of jealousy, something she’s been trying to curb immensely ever since she spoke to her sister after that night. Gabriella was really hurt by the reason why Emelie was hiding her crush, but the two sisters talked it out— all of it— before agreeing on the fact that they’d tell each other everything from now on. Gabriella made it clear that she was far from interested in Troy, and that would _never_ feel that way.

But then Emelie sees them like this, two peas in a pod spending all day together. It seems everyday the two witches are getting closer, and Emelie has to constantly remind herself that they’re just friends.

Not as if it really matters anymore anyway, considering Troy never followed up on her little confession that night. He seemed flattered, but that’s where it ended. The next day, he treated her as if nothing had happened, indicating that he obviously didn’t want to be anything more than friends.

A grey-eyed girl with a navy blue sweater passes their table, approaching from the back of the hall. She walks by from Troy and Gabriella’s side of the table, eyeing them almost nervously. Both of them catch her grey eyes at once, their heads still resting on their hands in boredom. The girl nervously smiles at them as she passes, causing both of them to wave at her slightly with a little wiggle of their fingers. It almost looks as if they’re running off of the same brain cells, as their hands do the same motion at the same moment. The girl swallows hard, seeming to be incredibly intimidated by the silent interaction, picking up her speed as she walks away and toward her table.

MG appears from behind, looking at the grey-eyed girl as she frantically walks away. He takes his seat next to Troy, looking at the two witches beside him with his eyebrows raised.

“Y’all do know that you’re scaring people just by breathing the same air, right?” MG says, making Troy smirk subtly.

“You know what they say: it’s always better to have people fear you,” Gabriella says with a small shrug.

“I have never once heard that, Gabs,” MG says with a sigh.

“I don’t even understand why, though. What’s so scary about us?” Troy says with a chuckle.

Kaleb scoffs from across the table, “Bro you’re the tribrid. And you—“ he points his eyes at Gabriella, “You’re horrifyingly violent.” Gabriella smiles happily at the remark, regarding it a compliment.

“Don’t you two come from famous families or something? Kaleb didn’t specify much,” Kym says, rolling her eyes at her brother. The young African-American girl joined the school as a human intern a little over a week ago, and she understands the supernatural world almost perfectly, allowing her to adjust to the lifestyle quickly.

“ _He_ comes from a famous family,” Gabriella says, jutting her chin in Troy’s direction, “He’s a Mikaelson. His father was the world’s very first hybrid, and his aunts and uncles are the very first vampires on Earth. And his mother was the alpha of the Crescent wolves.” Troy pulls his lips into a thin line, nodding very subtly.

“Right, well her uncle’s Kai Parker,” Troy says, looking at Gabriella with an amused smile, “He’s a renowned psychopath in the supernatural community.”

“He’s also _her_ uncle,” Gabriella says as she puts her hand on her sister’s shoulder.

Emelie rolls her eyes, “Yeah and it sucks.”

“Oh yeah, it definitely does,” Gabriella rolls her eyes as well, “Everyone assumes we’re as crazy as him. I mean I lowkey am though, but we don’t need to talk about that.” Everyone on the table snickers yet again.

“Oh yeah I almost forget to tell you,” MG says suddenly, “I got Mrs. Leong to postpone our training by an hour. But she can’t be with us at that time, so surprisingly we’re allowed to work with the simulation all by ourselves!”

Troy raises his eyebrows a bit, “She’s trusting us with the simulation? Alone?”

“I guess we’ve gained her trust after years of torturing her for an hour every other weekday,” Gabriella says with a chuckle.

“On that note,” Kym says from across the table, “I’m gonna be joining you three in archery training today. I confirmed it with Mrs. Leong and everything.” Gabriella furrows her eyebrows a bit.

“This is advanced combat archery. It’s kinda intense,” she says to Kym, who only nods her head.

“I’ve been doing archery training since I was a kid, so the instructor told me I can give it a shot with the advanced archery group, which is just… you three,” Kym says with a chuckle.

Gabriella nods her head with a small smile, “Yep, we’re the only three in the school that do advanced archery. Troy and I used to be the only ones since we were preteens, which was painful back when we wanted to rip each other’s throats out,” she pauses to exchange a sarcastic smile with Troy, “but then MG came in with a mad amount of archery skill. So now it’s us three. Hopefully, we can have another girl join us.”

“You won’t have to deal with those two on your own now,” Kym says with a smirk as Gabriella giggles.

Troy scoffs, “Oh come on, we’re not that bad. Right, MG?” He pats MG’s shoulder much harder than he intended to, the evidence of his tribrid strength showing in MG’s pained facial expression.

“What am I, a punching bag?” MG says, rubbing his shoulder, “If anything, _I_ gotta deal with these two. Y’all are so goddamn chaotic.” Troy and Gabriella mumble apologies to MG, giving each other a knowing look while stifling their smirks.

—

_Gabriella steps into the common room, ignoring everyone as she heads toward the center of the room, looking for Alyssa. She just spent several hours organizing half of the student portraits with their names and student IDs, having everything piled into a neat stack in her hands. Alyssa is responsible for organizing the other half of the portraits, and Gabriella is trying to find her amongst the numerous students sitting around in the common room._

_She scans the room with her brown eyes, pausing for a moment when they fall on the blue orbs of Troy Bolton, who is standing by the couch with his arms crossed. Gabriella detaches her eyes from his immediately, feeling her blood boil at his unwelcome presence. She decides to put down the stack of portraits on one of the side tables, concluding that she’ll never find Alyssa by looking in from the outside._

_Gabriella walks into one of the student crowds, not bothering to apologize as she shoves a few people aside. She finally finds Alyssa and greets her with a little exhale._

_“This room isn’t even that big but I literally couldn’t find you for like ten minutes,” Gabriella says with a small smirk._

_“Yeah this place is unusually crowded right now! I was actually just going to leave and find you because I finished the portraits,”_

_“That’s why I wanted to find you! I finished them too, and I left them on one of the side tables. I was thinking you could take them off my hands?”_

_Alyssa nods, “Yep, sounds good!”_

_Gabriella looks around with just her eyes, keeping her head fixed forward, “All right but exactly why are there so many people here?”_

_Alyssa pulls her lips into a straight line, “You’re probably not gonna like the reason, but I’m guessing it’s because he’s here,” she juts her chin in Troy’s direction, “He’s practically never out of his room, and you know how it gets when he is.”_

_Gabriella groans and rolls her eyes, “Yeah of course, they all flock to him like he’s a celebrity.”_

_Alyssa smiles, hoping to abandon this topic, “Well anyway, why don’t you give me those portraits?” She and Gabriella move past several students and toward the front of the room._

_“Here it is,” Gabriella says, pointing to the small wooden table in the corner where she left her pile of student portraits. She flips through them quickly before handing the pile over, making sure everything in place._

_But it isn’t._

_Everything is entirely out of order. The names are messed up, the identification numbers are messed up, the photos are out of alphabetical order…_

_Gabriella’s eyes are a bit wide as she turns back to Alyssa, “Uh, the stack. I had everything organized, and now it’s-“_

_Alyssa furrows her eyebrows a bit, “It’s what?”_

_“It’s all out of order,”_

_“Woah, how?”_

_“I don’t know,” Gabriella takes a deep breath, feeling her heartbeat picking up unconsciously, “Maybe someone touched it but, I mean who would do that?” She turns around and scans the room, her eyes frantically darting from one end of the room to the other repeatedly. Until they finally fall on that same pair of blue eyes that she loathes from the bottom of her heart._

_Gabriella’s eyes narrow as she watches Troy’s lips curl into a small, condescending smirk. He keeps his eyes on her as he leans down to tell something to a girl standing next to him, the girl smiling at him dreamily (well in Gabriella’s eyes, idiotically) as he speaks. The next moment, all of the people around him turn toward Gabriella, snickering while she stands there helpless, knowing her work has been washed down the drain just like that._

_Gabriella purses her lips, “So what’d you do, Bolton? Cast a spell to reorder the portraits?”_

_Troy had let go of his crossed arm position, but he returns to it cockily as he raises his chin, “Maybe— or maybe you never ordered them at all. You’ve always got some psychotic hallucinations in your head anyway: maybe you imagined yourself organizing the portraits.” The crowd of students around him laughs as he continues to smirk condescendingly at Gabriella._

_She clenches her teeth in sheer anger, feeling tears spring to her eyes, “It doesn’t help if you laugh. He’ll never change if you laugh with him.” She quickly realizes who she’s talking to; these people don’t want him to change. To them, Troy Bolton is the most perfect student in school: the best looking, the most powerful, the most confident._

_But to Gabriella, Troy is nothing but a heartless jerk using his grief as an excuse to torture her. He’s been torturing her since way before his parents died, and there has never been justification for it. There never will be._

_Gabriella can feel a tear about to spill out from the corner of her eye, using it as a cue to leave the room entirely. She leaves the pile of portraits behind as she storms off into the hallway, rapidly walking away toward the kitchen._

_“Solvet!” She practically yells, the kitchen doors flinging open in front of her without her having to touch them. Gabriella stomps into the kitchen, feeling her legs give out from under her as she falls to the ground, the anger, frustration, and hurt overtaking her entirely._

_The tears begin to spill uncontrollably, soaking her face as she takes deep breaths, unable to keep her breathing in check. There’s a scream building up in her throat, about to make its way out. She chokes it back, furrowing her eyebrows in pain, but she can’t._

_Thank god the walls in this school are soundproof._

_The last thought Gabriella thinks before the glass in the kitchen shatters into hundreds of pieces, before the knives are chucked into the walls, before the pots and pans clatter to the ground, all from the power of her scream. The last thought…_

_I hate you, Troy Bolton._

I hate you, Troy Bolton.

Gabriella wakes up with a start, gasping for air as she shoots up into a sitting position, her fists firmly clutching her gray blanket. She can practically feel the anger coursing through her veins, leaving her incredibly confused as she tries to recollect her thoughts. She looks at her nightstand clock, seeing that there’s only five minutes until her yearbook meeting. Her staggered breathing falls into a steady pace, as does her heartbeat.

Gabriella thinks back to her dream. It was a memory from a little over a year ago; she had one of her worst breakdowns on that day. Why her mind decided to replay it in her head right now… that even she doesn’t know.

Gabriella realizes that she’s still clutching her blanket, so she releases her fists carefully, feeling some of the anger pass. She’s torn away from her thoughts as there’s a knock on the door. She carefully steps off of her bed, flipping the blanket off her body and walking rather slowly to the door. She opens it and can’t help but scowl at the young man standing in front of her.

“Hi,” Troy says with a small smirk, “You kinda grilled me about never attending yearbook meetings for most of the year, so I thought you’d at least practice what you preach. There’s like four minutes left, let’s go.”

Her eyes are frozen in a deathly glare, pointed right at Troy. His smile drops a bit as he examines her face, trying to see past her stone cold expression. Little does he know that her mind is flashing red, caution signs everywhere, frantically warning her that there’s an enemy invader at bay.

Gabriella’s eyes soften as she reminds herself of something she’s been telling herself often: Troy won’t hurt her anymore. Her sympathetic nervous system calms down as her fight-or-flight subsides.

“Uh,” Troy furrows his eyebrows very slightly, “are you okay? You look like you wanna kill me.” He chuckles rather nervously, biting his bottom lip very subtly.

Gabriella shakes her head and chuckles, breaking her stare, “Oh uh, no I’m just tired. My mind’s a bit fuzzy, that’s all.” Troy’s blue eyes quickly dart toward her bed behind her, the blanket unfolded. He looks back at her, noticing her eyes are a bit sleepy.

“Were you sleeping? Sorry if I disturbed you—“

“No I just woke up, plus like you said, we’ve got a yearbook meeting to attend. It’s one of your first in like several months, so we better go,” she says with a small smirk, “Let me just fix my hair.” She heads toward her dresser, quickly straightening her wavy, medium-length hair as she looks at herself in the mirror. She spots Troy taking a little step into the room, leaning on the doorframe with his arms crossed. She smiles at him softly, which makes him smile back but with a slightly confused look in his eyes.

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

Gabriella swallows, “Yeah, yeah why wouldn’t I be?”

Troy chuckles, “You’re awfully smiley.”

“You just said I looked as if I was gonna kill you,”

“Yeah well now you’re voluntarily smiling at me, which is just odd, that’s all,”

“I can always voluntarily spell your room on fire!” Gabriella says with a wide, sarcastic smile. Troy rolls his eyes, a playful smirk on his lips.

“You’re still a bitch, thank god,” Troy exhales with feigned relief, making her groan.

“Just shut up already, will you?” Gabriella grabs her beige silicon-covered iPhone as she makes her way outside of the door, her wavy hair sitting nicely on her shoulder. She shuts the door with a squeeze of her fist as Troy and Gabriella make their way downstairs. They exit the witch quarters, walking rather briskly to the main campus.

They make it just in time, seating themselves next to one another in the printing room where the meeting is being held.

“Mr. Bolton,” the yearbook advisor says in a scolding voice, “I see you’ve finally decided to show up. After… four months, eh?” Students in the room begin snicker, and Gabriella stifles her own laugh. Troy smiles charmingly at the teacher, chuckling innocently.

“Yep! But I’ve been taking pictures, so it’s really not a big deal, right?” The advisor rolls her eyes as Troy continues to smile widely. He drops the smile immediately as the advisor turns her back and addresses the other members.

He leans a bit over his shoulder to look at Gabriella, rolling his eyes, “I haven’t been taking pictures either—“

“Ugh, you’ve got to be kidding me, right? This is why I was so upset in the beginning of the year to hear that we were partnered for candids,”

“No, you were upset because you wanted me to step on a lego. You know, back when we used to hate each other,” Troy says with a small smirk, and Gabriella mentally directs herself to return the smirk. A part of her is still getting used to not hating him, because while it’s less stressful to be at peace with him, going head to head with him became routine after years of doing it everyday.

“I need all of you to upload all pictures and/or designs into the system by the end of the week. And we certainly need more pictures in the candids section,” the advisor side-eyes Troy briefly.

Troy smiles softly, “i told you, I’ve been taking pictures.” Gabriella tries her best to stifle an amused smile.

“Well, regardless of how many pictures you took, we still need more. Any school events coming up that we can get some nice candids out of?”

Gabriella raises her hand, “There’s the annual blood drive at Mystic Falls High tomorrow, and there’s probably a few volunteers going from our school. But I think we need my mo— I mean, the headmistress’ permission to go with them.”

The advisor smiles subtly, “Would you like to go ask for said permission, then?” Gabriella nods her head with a smile, rising from her seat and beginning to head toward the door until Troy gets up as well.

He gives yet another cocky smile to the advisor, “I can help her with that.”

“I don’t need help,” Gabriella says in a monotonous voice, but Troy diverts his attention onto her, continuing to smile.

“Oh come on, we’re partners. We gotta work together, remember?” Troy says with a small wink, making Gabriella groan inwardly.

The advisor sighs tiredly, “Yes yes, you’re partners. So you two figure it out, will you?” She returns to the class as Troy and Gabriella leave the classroom.

“You know we’re gonna end up going to the blood drive together, right?” Gabriella says to Troy, looking up at him from the side as they walk side-by-side.

Troy smiles, “First of all, your mom’s gotta approve it first. Second of all, does it really suck that much?”

Gabriella can’t help but smile softly too, “Well you’re annoying, but no, that’s not why I’m worried. It’s the fact that…”

Troy raises an eyebrow, “Finish your sentence _please_.”

“…that things went horribly wrong the last time we went together to do something for the school. You literally had to heal the several profusely bleeding scars on my hands, remember?”

Troy sighs, “Yes, I remember. But that was just a whole different circumstance. We’re literally just going to the local high school to take some pictures of people getting their blood drawn, no big deal.”

“Please, supernaturals at a blood drive? When has that _ever_ gone right?” Gabriella retorts.

“Every year, actually,” Troy rolls his eyes, “The blood drive happens annually, and students from our school, _supernaturals_ , go to volunteer.”

“Well you know what? We’re harbingers of trouble— if we’re there, something will go wrong,”

Troy chuckles, “Of course it will, considering _that’s_ your attitude.” Gabriella can’t suppress her soft laugh, not noticing Troy’s eyes flickering toward her at the sound. Both of them stroll leisurely though the hallway, appreciating the calmness as they lose themselves in conversation. The headmistress’ hallway is always more serene and quiet, considering no one plans on getting themselves in trouble with her.

“This is random, but you’re involved in like- everything. You’ve literally stretched yourself thin, but somehow you’re simultaneously the school’s official reclusive heartthrob,” Gabriella and Troy laugh together, their voices mixing rather harmoniously as they bounce off the wooden walls.

“All right well, I’m not sure about that last part, but I get what you mean,” Troy bites his bottom lip subtly for a moment, “If you remember, I really had been a recluse for years. I guess I still am, but two years ago, I threw myself into… everything. I just didn’t want to think about my parents and everything else that came with their deaths.” Gabriella swallows hard as Troy stops talking, looking at her carefully from the corner of his eye.

“I made it harder for you, didn’t I?”

“What do you mean?”

“I made it harder for you to distract yourself,” Gabriella averts her guilty eyes, “I literally used to remind you of how lonely you looked.” She can hear Troy sigh softly, and then clear his throat. She feels his strong hand on her shoulder, very softly touching her.

“It’s okay,” he says in a low voice, a nearly unnoticeable smile playing on his lips.

“You forgive very easily, don’t you?”

“It’s what happens to you when the universe constantly reminds you that everything you have can slip away within a matter of minutes. There’s no time to hold grudges,” Troy’s smile widens slightly, detaching his hand from her shoulder and turning his head to the front again.

The two of them find themselves in front of the headmistress’ office, and Gabriella knocks carefully.

“Come in,” they hear Caroline’s voice saying from within the wooden French doors. Gabriella pushes them open, spotting her mother sitting behind her large rectangular desk, writing something with her fountain pen.

“Hey mom,” Gabriella says with a smile.

“What brings you two here?” Caroline asks with a happy, close-mouthed smile. She notices Gabriella’s slightly glum expression, while Troy looks neutral as usual.

“The yearbook needs more candids,” Troy starts, “and we have space for one more big event that the school is participating in.”

“The blood drive is tomorrow, right? We need your permission to get an excused leave tomorrow so we can go take some pictures,” Gabriella says.

Caroline raises her eyebrows and chuckles, “Oh dear, you two going somewhere together?”

Gabriella nudges Troy, “See! I told you, everyone knows we’re harbingers of trouble!”

“Not valid; she’s your mom. You probably influenced her if anything,” Troy says, shaking his head as Caroline scoffs.

“Excuse me, I am _not_ a biased headmistress. I would never favor Gabriella’s opinion over anyone else’s… but we all know she’s right,” Caroline shrugs with a smirk.

“We’ll be fine, we just have to take pictures anyway,” Troy says with a small smile.

Caroline sighs, “All right, you may go. Both of you will be excused from classes tomorrow, but please, stay safe. Take some pictures and just leave, got it?”

Gabriella groans quietly, “Mom, we’re 17. Please, we’re gonna be fine.” Caroline pulls her lips into a straight line for a moment before softly smiling.

“You better not come back with stories.”

“We won’t, we promise.”

—

Gabriella tucks her deep red t-shirt into her dark blue jeans, straightening her wavy hair. She grabs a slightly cropped black windbreaker jacket, throwing it onto her shoulders as she turns around to look at Emelie.

“Do I look okay?”

“The shirt’s perfect in case some of the blood gets out of those vials,” Emelie smirks.

Gabriella groans, “Nothing of the sort is going to happen! Plus, the red is required by the high school, so everyone there looks the same.”

“So even they know that blood might get out of those vials,”

“Em!” Gabriella exclaims with a laugh, “There will be no staining of blood! None of it! And even if there is, it won’t be my fault.”

Emelie chuckles, but then her smile subsides a bit, “So you’re going with Troy?” Gabriella immediately rolls her eyes at her sister’s hesitant tone.

“Yes, because we were partnered for candids at the beginning of the year. So we have to go do this together—” she eyes Emelie, “and it shouldn’t really matter anyway, right?”

Emelie shakes her head reluctantly, “No, of course not.”

Gabriella scoffs, “Em do you seriously think that I’m a threat to you?”

“No, I don’t. I’m just…” Emelie sighs, “I don’t even know, insecure? There’s just a part of me that thinks that maybe—”

Gabriella raises an eyebrow, “Finish your sentence _please._ ”

“That you guys will end up together. And there’s nothing wrong with that of course!”

Gabriella groans, “God, Emelie, yes there’s plenty of things wrong with that! I’d never end up with Troy! Ever! He’s not a horrible friend, but that’s as far as it can go. I mean, you’re talking about two incredibly selfish and conceited people barely coexisting together; how could we ever survive in a relationship? I’m not interested in him now, and I never will be.”

“People are already thinking you might be secretly dating him,” Emelie blurts out, her eyes widening as Gabriella’s brown orbs burn into her own.

“What?” Gabriella whispers quietly, her voice still sharp.

“You know how people are- they see a boy and a girl together, they automatically think they’re dating. It’s not a big deal,”

Gabriella bites the inside of her cheek, “You’re right, it’s not, because I don’t give a shit. But it obviously is to you.”

Emelie furrows her eyebrows a bit, “No, it’s not. We already talked about this.”

“Right, but you seem to care a lot anyway,” Gabriella softens her tone, “and that’s okay. Because you have a crush on him, and it’s probably not fun to hear rumors about your sister dating your crush.” Gabriella groans and sits on the edge of her bed, directly across from Emelie who’s sitting on the edge of her own bed.

“It’s really got nothing to do with you. At least not anymore,” Emelie says with a soft smile, one that Gabriella returns.

Widening the upturn of her lips, Gabriella says, “Screw the rumors, because we know they’re not true. I’m not dating Troy Bolton, and I am _never_ going to date Troy Bolton.”

Emelie rolls her eyes playfully, “Lowkey a shame, but okay.”

“Speak for yourself,” Gabriella says with a chuckle, “I’m gonna head out now, see you in the evening Em.”

“Bye bye,” Em waves at her sister as she exits their bedroom, leaving Em to get ready for the school day.

Gabriella checks her phone as it pings, scanning her eyes over a message from Troy that says: “meet me outside the quarters”.

She rapidly moves her fingers over the keyboard on her phone: “yep im coming rn”.

Troy leans on the wall next to the French doors, wearing a deep red t-shirt as well. He looks up from his phone as Gabriella walks out of the building. The sun is particularly bright today, and it’s a rather warm April day.

“Gabriella it’s 74 degrees,”

“And?”

“You’re wearing a jacket?”

“What if I need it during the drive? It might be cold in there,”

“Oh right, I forgot that you feel temperature,” Troy says with a smirk.

Gabriella rolls her eyes, “Shut up, don’t tease me for being mortal.”

“That was my first and last time doing so,” he stifles a laugh, “Sorry… mortal.” Gabriella groans in frustration, slapping him on the arm.

“I can already tell today’s gonna be painful,”

Troy looks over his shoulder at her, smiling, “Or maybe it’ll be fun.” She rolls her eyes, not wanting to agree but not wanting to disagree either.

They walk over to the private parking lot in which the students and faculty members keep their cars safely within the borders of the campus gates. Gabriella anticipates which car they’ll be going to; she’s never seen Troy’s car, but she’s heard that it’s certainly a good one. And pretty. And of course, expensive.

Gabriella hesitantly clears her throat, “You know, they say your car’s really nice.” Troy looks at with a playful look in his blue eyes.

“Really?”

Gabriella nods, “It’s shiny and black, right?” she looks around, “There are plenty of shiny, black cars here.”

“Well if you follow me, you won’t end up going into the wrong car, so don’t worry about it!” Troy says in an overly cheery tone, making Gabriella giggle.

Troy reaches in his pocket and a metallic black car in the corner blinks; Gabriella suppresses a gasp. She wasn’t expecting the sharp-looking Mercedes, the logo at the front sparkling in the sunlight.

“Well,” Gabriella breathes, “this is definitely… really nice.” Troy turns to see her evidently stifling her awe. He opens the passenger door and gestures her in. She takes small but rather excited steps toward the car, smiling widely at Troy as she steps inside; Troy chuckles at her reaction.

Troy gets into the driver’s seat and turns on the car as Gabriella buckles herself. She silently observes the dashboard, white and blue strobes of light gracing her view.

“Wow, uh, how old is it?”

“A few years old. My Uncle Elijah got a German Mercedes for me when I was only twelve, and my dad decided to save it for me until I was of driving age,”

Gabriella smiles to herself, “You know, it’s a bit odd to think about Klaus Mikaelson locking up a car for the future because his son isn’t of age yet.”

Troy chuckles as he backs the car out of the parking spot, “Yeah I know, everyone knows him as the reckless Original hybrid, so it’s hard to see him being protective. Although, if we’re being honest, my dad might have given it to me if it weren’t for my mom.” Gabriella lets a soft laugh escape her throat, feeling more comfortable with the topic.

“Your parents sound like fun,” she says softly, smiling as she looks into his eyes. He keeps his eyes on the road, the school’s iron gates opening for them as he drives toward them. Gabriella spots students standing by the lawn staring at the car. Gabriella can’t help but smirk a bit, feeling special about being in Troy Bolton’s famous German sports car.

As they drive onto the bustling road outside of the school boundaries, Troy finally looks at Gabriella, returning her smile, “They were fun. They were also dangerous and had way too much baggage, but that’s talk for another time.”

“We all have baggage. And family with baggage. It’s okay,”

“I never said it wasn’t,” Troy says with a nearly unnoticeable smile.

Gabriella looks at him carefully, peering at his side profile, unconsciously admiring it. She’ll never be able to look at his sharp jawline and cheekbones without seeing his mother first. She swallows hard, contemplating whether to say this next part.

“I remember how your mom used to come by the school. We all used to say how beautiful she was,” Gabriella says in a quiet tone, watching Troy’s pensive expression intently.

He inhales quietly, “She was.” His voice is quiet too, but there’s no smile to accompany his recollection, making Gabriella think that maybe she upset him.

A few moments he speaks up again, “I sometimes forget that you’ve seen my mother. For some reason, in my mind I’ve convinced myself that I was the only person who ever really saw my mom.”

“Well I don’t think your ind is all that wrong. You were the only person who really _knew_ her, that’s for sure. But some of us have had some short interactions with her, such as me,”

Troy turns to her briefly, “You’ve spoken to her before?”

Gabriella nods subtly, “It was many years ago, and she walked into the room just as I was laughing at someone. So the one time your mom saw me, I was being my usual bitch self.”

Troy smiles a little, “Well, she kinda prided herself on the same thing, so maybe she didn’t see it as a bad thing.”

Gabriella chuckles, “You’re right, because she told me something that surprised me. She came up to me, and I was instantly intimidated because… well she just had that air. And I thought she was coming to scold me.

“Instead, she asked me if I was Gabriella, and of course I responded with a yes. And then she just smiled at me, and told me, ‘It’s fun being in control. Being on top, right? But when you let people see the mercy and kindness in your heart, that’s called real power.’ And I’ve never…” Gabriella breathes in, “I’ve never heard such sound advice from anyone before. Not even my own mom, although I don’t recommend you tell her that.”

The car stops at a traffic light that has turned red, and Gabriella realizes they’re not too far from the high school. She turns to Troy briefly and finds that his blue eyes were intently burning into the side of her face, and now right into her own chocolate brown eyes.

Gabriella swallows, “Did I say something that was out of line or something?”

Troy clenches his jaw, “No, not at all.” His voice is deep but soft.

“I don’t really know how she knew anything about me,” Gabriella says quietly, “but it was probably from my mom. A simple description of my daily behavior can easily sum up how arrogantly toxic my personality is.” A bitter chuckle escapes her throat.

Troy subtly bites his bottom lip for a moment, “You’re probably not going to like this, but I used to complain about you,” Gabriella notices the small smile appear on his face, “when I was a kid and when my mom or aunt would ask me about things here at the school, I’d usually just talk about… you.”

Gabriella finds herself smiling as well, “I know you probably said some shitty things about me, but in some odd way, I’m still flattered to know that my name isn’t unfamiliar in the Mikaelson household.”

Troy chuckles, “She may or may not have planned to give you that advice.”

“Anything’s better than getting beat up by the Crescent alpha slash protective mother though, so I’ll take it,” Gabriella giggles, “But I’ve been trying so hard to take her advice for the past five years. I don’t think I’ve gotten too far, but I know I’ll never forget it. Because it’s true.”

Troy nods, “It is true, especially because she was just like that. She had a superiority complex too, but it made sense considering she was the alpha of her pack.”

“I think she did a great job of growing out of it… however I also think some of her teenager genes got passed down to you anyway,” Gabriella says with a fake wince, making Troy roll his eyes.

“I wasn’t the one who got that advice though,” Troy mumbles with a smirk.

“You can try to use that against me all you want, but it only makes me that much closer to being like Hayley Marshall. I don’t know about you, but I consider that a win,”

Troy turns his head toward her again, his eyes a bit lighter, sparking in the sunlight reflecting off the dashboard, “You remind me of her anyway.” Gabriella’s smile slowly fades, her eyebrows furrowing in an emotion between confusion and disbelief.

“What?” She whispers softly.

Troy turns his head to the front again as the light turns green, a smirk on his face, “The one thing that convinced me to try to be friends with you was the fact that in some ways,” he looks at her from the corner of his sharp, cerulean eyes, “you’re just like her.”

The Mercedes zips through the roads, bringing them to the high school much faster than Gabriella had expected. She doesn’t say anything after that, however both of them fall into a comfortable silence, smiling softly to themselves after the nostalgic conversation that just took place between them.

They pull up into the Mystic Falls High parking lot, finding themselves trying to navigate among a labyrinth of mini-vans. Just as they did back at the Salvatore School, they get everyone’s attention as the modern black Mercedes effortlessly makes it way in.

“Great, now we’ll have a walk a shit ton,” Gabriella grumbles as Troy parks toward the back of the parking lot. He looks at her with his lips pulled into a line and his eyebrows raised.

“You act like that’s difficult for you,”

“It’s not difficult, just annoying, ugh,”

Troy rolls his eyes as they both step out of the car, shutting the doors and heading toward the school building. They walk in and immediately find themselves among a frenzy of students, many of them with white gauze bandages wrapped around the crook of their arms. Troy can immediately trace the immense smell of collected blood from the school gym.

“Human blood honestly smells awful,” Troy mumbles to himself, although Gabriella still manages to hear.

“Well whenever you become a vampire, I bet you’ll feel a little differently about it,” she says with a snicker. Troy suppresses a smile as they walk into the main office, picking up their visitor badges and being directed to the school gym, where the blood collection is happening.

Both of them remove their iPhones from their pockets, prepared to snap a few pictures of the Salvatore School volunteers and then leave. Neither of them have any intention of staying in the human high school for any longer than necessary.

“Do you know why we have to wear red?” Gabriella suddenly asks him as they look around for the volunteers from their school, unable to spot them quickly.

Troy looks at her with amusement, “Wow, what a thoughtful question. Let’s see, it’s definitely _not_ because we’re at a blood drive. And it’s definitely not because blood is red.” Gabriella smacks his arm as he begins to chuckle.

“Ugh, yes I know! But like, am I the only one that finds it weird that we have to dress with the same color of the _fluid_ we’re drawing?”

“Yeah you are, Gabi,”

“Maybe it’s because our shirts can hide blood stains,” Gabriella mumbles to herself, not expecting Troy to hear.

He turns his head toward her in an alarmed expression, “I— Gabriella, why would there be blood stains? These are trained phlebotomists, no one’s blood will be splattering anywhere!”

She pulls her lips into a straight line, “Well shit, you were not supposed to hear that.”

“Lowkey wish I didn’t,” he says with a sigh.

“Look you’re gonna have to get used to the crazy things that swim in my head,” she smirks.

“I have plenty of crazy things in my head too, love,” he leans down and lowers his voice, “I’ve also got psycho genes in my blood, remember?” Gabriella recognizes that he’s referring to his father’s established reputation as a psychopathic killer. Her own uncle Kai falls into the same category as Klaus.

“Oh, they’re over there,” Gabriella points toward two volunteers from their school organizing Red Cross brochures, “I’ll go take pictures of them.”

Troy sighs, “All right but where are the other two volunteers?”

Gabriella shrugs, “Go find them!” She scurries off as Troy begins to look around again, unable to find the other two students.

He walks along the edges of the gym for a few more minutes, finally finding the two volunteers handing out moist chocolate chip cookies to the donors. The students spot him as well, giving him timid smiles as he approaches.

“Hey guys, I’m here for the yearbook. Can I just take some pictures of you guys as you give out cookies?” Troy says with a charming, close-mouthed smile.

One of the students, a witch, nods, “Yeah of course!”

Troy quickly snaps a few pictures from multiple angles as the volunteers tend to the donors. Satisfied with the fifty shots he ends up with, he leaves the two students with a soft smile, heading toward the back entrance of the gym. He looks in Gabriella’s direction, who seems to have just finished. She looks around for a few moments before finding him, his eyes already on her. She doesn’t realize the minuscule smile on her face as she makes her way over.

“Well that was really quick,” Gabriella says.

Troy nods, “Probably because we have only four volunteers. We’d send more but…” he gives her a knowing look, “a good deal of our students would be tempted to drink the blood.” Gabriella stifles a laugh, putting her finger on her chin cleft.

“So shall we leave?”

“Gladly,” he says, exiting using the doors behind them. They walk into the dark, slightly abandoned-looking hallway behind the gym, both of them heading straight toward the red “Exit” sign at the far end.

Troy suddenly stops in his track as he picks up on a familiar scent, but from an unfamiliar location. Gabriella takes a few steps further before realizing he’s no longer beside her.

“Something wrong?” She asks him, turning back to look at his frozen figure.

He purses his lips, “I smell blood.”

“Because we’re at a blood drive,”

He shakes his head, “No, not from back there. I smell it from…” he turns his head toward the classroom door next to him, “there.” Gabriella darts her eyes toward the classroom door, biting her bottom lip in anxiety.

“It’s probably just another storage area,”

“Gabi,” his voice is low, “It’s fresh. Very, very fresh. Coming straight out of a human.”

She shifts her weight, “So what are you saying, that there’s someone bleeding to death in there?”

“I don’t know, maybe,” the eerie calmness in his voice takes her aback.

“You say that like it’s no big deal,” she chuckles nervously, moving a bit closer to him. Troy continues to peer at the door, noticing the little window has been covered by a thin paper sheet.

He swallows and then turns to her, “You can wait out here, but I’m gonna go make sure everything’s okay in there.” She immediately puts her hand on his arm, her palm resting on his bicep. His blue eyes rapidly flicker toward her hand before he looks back up into her eyes.

“What if there’s someone actually bleeding in there? Or worse, a bleeding person _and_ the perpetrator?”

“We have to help them then, don’t we?”

Gabriella taps her right foot a few times, sighing, “Fine, let’s go.”

Troy holds up his hand, his Mikaelson family ring shimmering in the sun rays coming in from the exit, “You don’t have to come with me.”

Gabriella rolls her eyes, “Having a Gemini siphoner by your side is always the best option. I’m coming with you.” She walks ahead of him and pushes the classroom door open, seeing nothing at first. They immediately notice the vast length of the room, and the unusual amount of cabinets taking up space.

“This is certainly a good hiding space,” Gabriella says under her breath. Troy takes a step farther than her, putting himself in front of her as they carefully step deeper into the room.

Troy turns his head toward the far end of the room, his eyes narrowing and pointed to a specific metal cabinet. Gabriella notices and raises an eyebrow.

“Something there?”

“Smells like it,” Troy says hoarsely.

A tall figure suddenly steps out from behind the cabinet, expecting to take the duo by surprise. However, Troy and Gabriella don’t flinch, both of them expecting to find something gruesome. In fact, they’re rather relieved when all they see is a youthful man with a drop of blood at the corner of his mouth. _A vampire._ Both of them think to themselves.

The man has sharp, blue-hazel eyes, matching well with his intensely defined jawline. His brown hair is a bit shaggy, but still well-groomed and attractive. His smile is cunning and threatening, and Gabriella notices his vampire fangs just barely as they recede into his human dentition.

“More victims, I presume?” The man says with a British accent, smirking evilly at them. Troy scoffs, crossing his arms over his defined pectorals, narrowing his eyes at the vampire in front of them.

“I mean sure, if you want to choke on the toxic taste of werewolf blood,” he says with a smirk of his own.

“Oh that’s a shame,” the man clicks his tongue, “but you smell delicious.” He’s looking Gabriella up and down, but her stern glare does not falter one bit.

“The cookies out there smell delicious too, but do you see me eating them? Yeah, exactly,” Gabriella says with the bitter chuckle, not expecting the man to bare his vampire fangs as the veins spread out from underneath his eyes. He speeds into Gabriella’s face, prepared to sink his fangs into her neck.

Troy is somehow faster than him, outstretching his right arm to the side, stopping the vampire by the chest. Troy sighs dramatically, shoving the vampire back as he steps in front of Gabriella.

The vampire chuckles, “You shouldn’t mess with me, wolf.”

Troy smirks amusedly, “Well you shouldn’t have done that.”

“Protecting the mortal, I see,”

“Protecting my friend, actually.” Gabriella stands behind Troy’s tall figure, watching his face using the mirror at the far end of the room. She doesn’t dare step out from behind him, knowing the vampire is still looking to suck her dry.

“Look, I’m a lot older than you. Stronger. More dangerous,” the vampire smirks, “I suggest you back away and let me do what I desire, or else you won’t live to see another day.” Troy laughs bitterly, turning his head toward the blinded windows. A few seconds later, he turns his head back toward the vampire, this time his eyes directly burning into the vampire’s blue-hazel ones.

“I don’t think you need to worry about it,” Troy says in a hoarse whisper, his blue eyes morphing into a stunning golden-yellow shade. The vampire’s smirk recedes just a bit, taken aback by the brilliant glow from the pair of eyes in front of him. Gabriella’s mouth opens a bit as she examines the sight of Troy’s eyes from the mirror’s reflection. She’s met and befriended plenty of wolves in her life before, but this glow is different. It’s unusually bright, sharp, and almost ethereal.

Gabriella finally takes a step out from behind Troy’s cover, revealing herself to the vampire. Her eyes are narrow like slits, her arms crossed over her chest.

“Who are you?” She demands.

“Sebastian,” he looks her up and down again, but this time slightly differently, “They call me Sebastian the Merciless.” Troy and Gabriella immediately look at each other incredulously.

“Sebastian the Merciless, as in…” Gabriella trails off.

“…the guy from our supernatural history textbook?” Troy finishes, his eyebrows furrowed a bit.

Gabriella chuckles, “How perfectly coincidental.”

“Yeah,” Troy scoffs, “Well, guess it’s time to kill him.”

“Woah, woah,” Sebastian says, holding up his hands, “No need for that.”

“Um I think there’s _every_ need for that, considering you just tried to kill me,” Gabriella says with a roll of her eyes.

“No, there isn’t,”

“And why is that?”

“Because without me, you wouldn’t know that there’s a whole pack of vampires on their way here. They’ll be coming through from these here windows,” Sebastian points to the windows to the side, “They’re coming to collect some blood from the drive.”

“They’ll have to get through us first,” Gabriella says with a scoff.

Sebastian winces, “Ooh, that’s not good. I’m telling you this so you can leave, not to put up a fight.”

“Now why would we leave,” Troy says, “and let those vampires get all that blood that’s supposed to go to the hospital?”

“Because they’ll kill you. Thousand-year-old vampires against a wolf with bright eyes and a mortal with attitude. Who do you think will win that fight?” Sebastian spreads his hands out in front of him arrogantly, smirking.

Troy and Gabriella share a look with one another, both of them standing with their arms crossed over their chests. Some form of silent communication takes place between them, as they both raise one hand slightly above their heads.

“Unconcido,” Both witches say at once, flicking their wrist simultaneously and causing every overhead light to switch off with a violent spark. Sebastian’s smirk is entirely wiped off this time as Troy and Gabriella display their own.

“A wolf with bright eyes and a mortal with attitude,” Gabriella says mockingly.

“You think that’s all we are?” Troy asks, his blue pupils wide while his eyelids narrow.

Sebastian clicks his tongue and then rolls it over the inside of his cheek, “Ah, witches.” He gives Gabriella another look, his eyes full of question.

“Well good luck, I bet you’ll have lots of fun with ten vampires standing up against you,” Sebastian says as he begins to head toward the classroom exit.

“We will!” Gabriella exclaims with a finger-wiggling wave.

Sebastian leaves the classroom, leaving Troy and Gabriella a bit confused about why he didn’t put up a fight with them any further. That is, until they hear the windows behind them creak open within the eerily silent classroom. Both of them turn around, finding a group of vampires standing in front of them. Each one seems to focus on Gabriella, as her mortal blood smells appetizing to them.

She feels every threatening pair of eyes burning into her, specifically her neck. She can’t help but smirk at the attention. Gabriella removes her black windbreaker from her torso, pulling her arms out of it and rolling her neck a little, knowing exactly what she’s doing. Troy eyes her carefully, and then looks back at the vampires, who are beginning to bare their fangs and prominently veined eyes.

With a dramatic exhale, she shoves her jacket into Troy’s hands, “So who’s dying first?” Before anyone can move a single step, she holds up her balled fist in the air, making all ten vampires grab their heads as excruciating pain radiates through them.

Troy moves forward and grabs two vampires, ripping their hearts out with his bare hands.

“Who’s next?”

Another one rushes at him, however Troy effortlessly steps out of the way, outstretching his arm to the side to catch the vampire with his shirt. Troy flips around on the balls of his feet, his leg crashing into the vampire with a gut-wrenching kick. Just as another vampire is on his way toward Troy, he catches him right by his heart, smiling evilly at him.

“Caught you!” Troy says with a sadistic smile, wincing, “Ooh, but it seems I caught your heart too.” He pulls out both vampires’ hearts yet again, their limp bodies falling to the ground on either side.

“Six left,” Gabriella says as she moves both of her hands in a circular motion, “Ignalusa.” The fireball hovers over her right palm as she eyes the remaining vampires, a crazed look in her eyes.

“Anyone think it’s a little cold in here? Let me warm you up,” she says in a hoarse whisper, about to shoot the fireball until a vampire rushes at her and grabs her throat tightly. His nails dig right into her neck, making her bleed as he holds her body above the ground. The wild look disappears instantly as she begins to choke for air. She wants to kick him, punch him, do whatever to defend herself. But there’s no air going to her brain; she can’t think.

Until a deafening, celestial noise fills everyone’s ears, making all heads turn toward it. Gabriella finds Troy standing at the other end of the room, his hands moving in a circular motion as she forms a golden ball of light between his hands.

Except it’s not just a ball of light. It’s sparkling with… electricity. And it’s brighter than anything any of them have ever seen before. Troy’s blue eyes are illuminated by the golden glow of his orb as he slowly lifts them, threateningly moving his glare across every enemy vampire in the room, until his eyes finally fall on the one holding Gabriella by the throat.

He chuckles bitterly, “You know what this is?” He moves slowly toward Gabriella and the vampire, “This is a shockwave orb. It might look all nice and shiny, but I don’t recommend touching it.”

The vampire falters a bit, his fingers unconsciously loosing slightly around Gabriella’s neck. She uses the opportunity to regain her breath and strength.

“Let her go,” Troy growls in a low tone, his eyes glowing a bright golden yet again.

“No,” the vampire retorts, moving his piece in a game he’s bound to lose.

“Want me to shoot it at you?” Troy says with a threatening chuckle, stopping a certain distance in front of the vampire before outstretching his hand, expecting the orb to shoot out immediately. Instead, the orb dissipates into thin air, taking Troy by surprise.

Gabriella is quick enough that before the vampire can tighten his hold on her again, she efficiently swings her legs around, knocking the vampire off balance and causing him to release her. She free falls to the ground, catching herself on one knee and one foot, immediately getting back up into standing position.

Troy sighs, “Well, that didn’t work. Good thing you’re an expert at combat though, right?” Gabriella reforms her fireball and shoots it at two vampires who are standing in tandem, causing both of them to get burned to a crisp.

“Four left,” she says to Troy as he looks around, until he realizes there’s only three. But they only killed six. _Oh no._

He threateningly eyes the remaining three vampires in the room, “Where’d your other friend go?” Troy quickly traces the scent of a vampire right outside the classroom walls.

“Where is he?” Gabriella asks frantically.

“In the hallway,”

“I got dibs,” she exclaims as she sprints out into the hallway, ready to kill the fourth vampire before he gets his hands on the blood they came here for.

Troy is left with the other three in the classroom, who have him entirely surrounded.

“Cast all the spells you want, witch. You’re not getting away now,”

Troy smirks, “Hey does my blood smell good to you?” The vampires don’t respond as they continue to glare at him.

“Answer my question,” Troy repeats, “Does my blood smell delicious to you?” One of the vampires rushes at him but Troy snaps his fingers even faster, causing the vampire’s heart to rip through his back and out of his body. _Only two more left, and of course the dude in the hallway._

“My blood smells like poison, doesn’t it? You don’t want anything to do with it, and I wonder why that is. You know, if I’m just a silly little witch, why would my blood possibly smell so… dangerous?” Troy says with an amused raise of his eyebrows. He laughs as one vampire stands right in front of him while the other stands behind him, all of them at the same height.

Troy leaps into the air, morphing effortlessly into his werewolf form in the air before landing on all fours. The vampires are taken aback by the grey-furred animal that has appeared before them, especially as it leaps right onto one of them, fatally biting him in the neck. The wolf leaps from one vampire to the other, the last one remaining in the room. Pouncing on him, it shoves the vampire into the ground, letting its fangs insert its instant-kill venom into the vampire’s neck.

The wolf climbs off of the vampire’s body, turning in circles around the two vampire corpses until it leaps into the air. When it lands, Troy emerges back in his human form, landing perfectly on his two feet as he walks it off a little.

He heads toward the classroom door, taking one last look before exiting. A part of him can’t help but feel satisfied by the sight, something he knows he gets from his father.

“Nine dead, one more to go,” he says to himself, smirking as he leaves the room, searching instantly for Gabriella.

He immediately finds her at the end of the hallway, near the exit of the building. He rushes toward the scene, stopping a little distance away from her.

She’s got her fist balled up in the air, the vampire seemingly choking on the ground in front of her. Gabriella crouches down, the crazed look back in her eyes, this time stronger than ever.

“Aww were you hungry? Did you need some blood?” She mockingly coos, “I think I can give you exactly what you want.” She holds out of her hand, summoning a broomstick leaning by the janitor’s closet to her hand. She takes the end of the wooden stick and stabs it right into the vampire’s hand, making him yell in agony. She laughs wickedly as she turns the broom as it stays in the vampire’s hands, watching him writhe in pain.

“What? You wanted blood, well now you got it,” she gestures to the pool of blood by his hand, “There’s plenty of blood right there.” Troy doesn’t move from his spot, frozen as he watches her torture the vampire in front of him. He instantly finds a similarity and a difference between the both of them.

They’re both sadistic, a bit on the crazier side, and aren’t afraid of a few kills.

But Troy’s more about the instant kill, while Gabriella likes to draw it out.

Just like Klaus and Kai. How wonderful.

Gabriella finally removes the broomstick from the vampire’s hand, exhaling and flipping her hair over her shoulder. She takes a look at a Troy, before looking back at the vampire and fatally shoving the rough end of the wooden stick right into the vampire’s heart. She backs away from the vampire, not realizing how wide her steps are until her back ends up crashing into Troy’s hard chest. He catches her by the shoulder, taking a step back and putting some distance between them.

“Are they all dead?” She asks, jutting her chin in the direction of the classroom.

Troy nods, “Yep, they’re dead. We’re safe, as is the blood drive.” Gabriella swallows hard, finding herself a bit out of breath. She takes a deep breath, exhaling sharply. Looking back up, she finds Troy’s eyes peering down at her.

“Are you okay?”

“Oh yeah, I’m fine,” she sighs, “You?”

He smiles softly, “Always.”

She can’t help but smile too, “Thank you for saving me twice already today.”

“That was for me, not for you,” Troy says with a smirk, “If you weren’t around, who else would go on accidental kill missions to the local high school with me?” Gabriella smiles widely as a chuckle escapes her throat, watching Troy as he does the same.

She looks down at her red shirt, finding that there are barely noticeable blood stains on it, probably from all of the vampires whose hearts got ripped out right in front of her by Troy.

Troy notices them too, looking down at his own shirt, “God, Gabi, you jinxed it.”

“I didn’t jinx shit! Leave me alone!”

“I bet if you didn’t say anything about our shirts covering up blood stains, none of this would’ve happened,” Troy says with a shrug, stifling a laugh.

“No, all of this would’ve happened anyway. We just wouldn’t have blood stains on our shirts, which honestly sucks too considering I actually kinda liked this shirt,” Gabriella says, rolling her eyes.

Troy waves his hand in the air, “I can take care of that.” He snaps his fingers, causing the blood stains on both his and Gabriella’s shirt to recede. In fact, their shirts start to smell as if they freshly came out of the laundry.

“Did you just wash our shirts w-with a snap?” Gabriella says with furrowed eyebrows.

Troy shrugs, “I didn’t wash them necessarily, I just dissipated a layer of dirt and other things.”

Gabriella blinks deliberately, “I— okay,” she smirks as she moves past him and toward the exit, before turning around again, “Oh wait, what about all the dead bodies we’ve produced? I can cloak them.”

“Yeah but we can’t just keep them cloaked forever, we gotta get rid of them,” he looks down at the corpse of the vampire on the ground, snapping his fingers and watching it dissipate. There are some golden flecks in the air above where the dead body, which fade into the air slowly.

“Who knew a disappearing corpse could look so nice?” Gabriella says to herself as she watches the golden flecks float in the air around her.

Troy chuckles softly, and then bites his bottom lip, “Yeah, seems I have golden powers.”

Gabriella looks up at him quizzically, “What do you mean it ‘seems’ you do?”

“That was my first time making a shockwave orb. It was something I read in one of Aunt Freya’s books. The golden powers are like a myth of some sort, and I thought I’d try one out especially since you were kinda in grave danger.”

“That’s-“ Gabriella scoffs, impressed, “That’s incredible.”

Troy rolls his eyes, “Maybe it would be if it had actually worked. The orb just disappeared into thin air when I tried to shoot it.” He shakes his head at himself before sighing, looking up at her and smiling.

“Shall we leave, this time for real?”

Gabriella smiles, “Indeed we shall, after you dissipate all the bodies in that classroom as well.”

Troy snaps his fingers, smirking, “Done.” Gabriella giggles as he pushes the doors opens, both of them stepping into the bright sunlight, glad to be out of that dark, moldy hallway. He has taken only a few steps when his wolf senses are peaked again, making him turn back to the school in alarm.

“Oh god, what now?” Gabriella says, groaning at the deja vu.

“Oh shit,” Troy mumbles under his breath.

“More blood?”

He turns his head to her, his facial expression calm but his eyes alarmed, “No. Fire.” The roof above the exact classroom in which they were standing before bursts into the air, flames erupting from within and enveloping the air above the school. Alarms can be heard from within the school, followed by screams of those in the building, including frightening bystanders on the road. Troy and Gabriella are standing at the back of the building, and no one can see them, however they’re just as shocked. They stand limp in front of the scene, looking up at the erupting flames with their jaws dropped in utter shock.

“Troy! What did you do?!”

“Nothing!”

“What did you do when you snapped your fingers back there?”

“I made the bodies dissipate! Or at least,” he closes his eyes in defeat, “I think I did.”

Gabriella aggressively gestures at the school building on fire “Well you thought wrong! You set the classroom of fire, idiot!”

“There’s nothing we can do now! Let’s go!” Troy notices that Gabriella’s jacket is balled up in his other hand, so he throws it over his shoulder, holding it by the hem with his finger. Both of them begin to walk rapidly away from the site, not bothering to run, but not exactly strolling either.

Troy and Gabriella match with their deep red t-shirts, fit comfortably around their torsos so that they define their best features. Troy holds her black windbreaker over his shoulder, walking slightly ahead of Gabriella. The far wing of the school continues to erupt into violent flames behind them, both darkening and brightening the air as they walk away from the ruins. He looks over his shoulder to Gabriella, giving her a tight-lipped smile, which Gabriella returns.

“I can’t believe you set the school on fire,” Gabriella says, shaking her head as her smile widens slightly.

“Eh, it’s just one classroom. I bet they’re all okay,” Troy says, smirking at her over his shoulder.

“I can carry my jacket now, by the way,”

“No, I’m good. You could use a break, mortal,” he says, turning his eyes front again, although she can still see his smirk from the side. She smiles to herself, unable to help herself from feeling flattered.

Considering they parked all the way in the back of the lot, they spot Troy’s metallic black Mercedes from the back alley. They jog the last bit to the car, getting into their seat rapidly. Troy turns on the car with the remote immediately, backing up out of their spot and zipping away from the school.

Both of them rest in a comfortable silence until they reach the freeway, when Gabriella asks, “Where are you going?”

“I didn’t wanna go through the internal roads considering there’s probably firefighters and police coming in the same direction,” Troy explains.

“Oh yeah, I didn’t even think of that. God, there’s probably so much chaos in town right now. You think anyone at our school heard yet?”

Troy shrugs, “Not sure, but the roof did kinda burst off the building, so probably they did.”

Gabriella snickers, “Yeah, and there’s probably more people out and about, considering my mom’s at an educational conference in Richmond right now.”

Troy chuckles, “I don’t know whether it’s a good or bad thing that she isn’t here right now.”

“Good, because we’d be getting our asses kicked right now.”

“She doesn’t know it’s our fault though,”

Gabriella scoffs, “Oh please Troy, she’s my mother. She’ll know.”

Troy clenches his jaw, “Oh dear, does that mean when she comes back…”

Gabriella lets out a little whimper, “Yeah, she’ll know.”

Troy sighs in defeat, “All right, considering we’re exempted from all of our classes, and your mom’s not here, why don’t we stay away from the school for right now? Maybe if we don’t come back immediately, we won’t be attributed to it.” Troy suggests.

“That’s awful logic, you know,” Gabriella says with a smirk.

“Ok maybe it is, but I honestly just don’t wanna go back to the school. We have a free day,” he turns to her and smiles, “Let’s use it wisely.” Gabriella bites her bottom lip, smiling at him.

She sighs, “Yeah, why not?”

“So where to?”

“I don’t know, you tell me,”

“Gabi I’m from New Orleans, you know this place better than I do. You pick a destination,”

Gabriella groans, “I’m literally the single most indecisive person ever, why would you do this to me?” Troy just shrugs in the driver’s seat, stifling a smirk.

“All right uh, let’s go the Mystic Grill. Although I don’t wanna eat anything,”

“Me neither,” Troy chuckles. He takes an exit on the freeway that leads right to the town square, which is where the Mystic Grill is located.

Troy and Gabriella are soon seated across from another at a table outside the Grill, an umbrella shading them from the sun. Gabriella’s iced latte sits half-consumed in front of her while Troy sits in front of a bottle of water.

“You know the last time I was here was actually with my Uncle Elijah,” Troy says, peaking Gabriella’s interest. She rests both her elbows on the table, cupping her face with her hands as she listens.

“Really? How long ago?”

“Two years ago. It was just a bit before my parents died,”

Gabriella frowns slightly, “Well that’s a long time ago if you ask me, so I’m glad I’ve brought you here again.”

Troy smiles to himself, “Yeah it definitely was a long time ago. But you know what’s even weirder? The fact that we sat here on this same table.”

“Oh god,” she says simply, making Troy chuckle.

“It’s not a bad memory though, especially because we didn’t talk about anything too important. I do remember me explaining in the car how I, the miracle child, came to be. And then also Uncle Elijah telling me about my dad and his obsession with paint.”

Gabriella smiles, “I’ve heard a bit about your dad and his love for painting.”

Troy nods, “Not only did he love it, but he was also great at it. Anyway, my uncle told me that nearly a thousand years ago, my dad was just furiously mixing different colors together, and he actually woke up my uncle in the middle of night to tell him that he invented a new color. Centuries later, they named it turquoise and my dad got zero credit.” Both of them burst out laughing; Troy recollects his memories of his conversation with his uncle while Gabriella enjoys learning about this other side of his family. The side that isn’t ripping out hearts or dropping bodies, but instead being normal, happy, chaotic, and sweet. The side that only Troy has seen, and the one that Gabriella is getting more and more interested in.

“Your family seems really chaotic, and in the best way,” she says, recovering from her laughter.

Troy rolls his eyes playfully, “Oh trust me, they are. They actually have a hard time taking things seriously, if we’re being honest. I mean, you’ve probably only heard about the fact that they’re vicious monsters, but that’s not true.”

“I was never one to believe rumors anyway, so you don’t have to worry about that,” Gabriella says softly, smiling at Troy. He peers at her for a moment before returning her smile, his blue eyes light and dancing.

—

Troy lies supine on his bed, looking up at the ceiling blankly. The dining hall will open in ten minutes for dinner, and he’s still deciding whether to go or not: a decision he suffers through every evening. Him and Gabriella arrived at the school at around 4 p.m., approximately four hours after leaving the site of the fire. They spent a small portion of the time at the Mystic Grill, and the rest of it taking a long drive on the freeway, talking about anything and everything that came to their minds. It was a refreshing and much-needed break for both of them; also a great opportunity to get to know each other through a different lens.

Troy is forced out of his thoughts as there’s a knock at his door. He throws his feet over the side of the bed, getting up to open the door. He finds Gabriella standing there with an anxious expression and tapping feet.

“My mom’s here,” she says rapidly, swallowing hard.

Troy’s eyes widen a bit, “Oh no.”

“Oh no, indeed. We’re in deep, deep trouble,”

“She’s obviously already heard about the fire,”

“Heard about it? Troy, she’s summoning us to her office.”

“Damn it,” Troy sighs, closing the door behind him and following Gabriella out of their quarters and toward the main campus.

They climb up to the silent wing in which the headmistress’ office is located, both of them taking slow, deliberate steps as they near her office. They arrive in front of her door, standing silently for a moment before Gabriella carefully and nervously knocks.

Caroline herself opens the door, her hands on her hips and her eyes full of fire.

“Sit down, both of you,” she demands as both of them quickly take their seats in front of her desk. Caroline walks behind her desk and leans her hands on it, peering over them with a mix of emotions flooding over her face.

“How was your trip to Richmond, Mom?” Gabriella asks anxiously, giving her mother a small smile.

Caroline doesn’t smile back, “Great. Now would you guys like to tell me how I sent you two to the high school and a fire erupted by the time you guys left?”

Troy shrugs, “We don’t know, the fire happened aft-“

“Don’t lie to me, and I _know_ you’re lying,” she tells him, making him clench his jaw as he thinks of what to say next.

“Fine, we were there when it happened. But we don’t know why it did,”

“That’s a lie, too,”

“No it isn’t Mom, we genuinely don’t know,” Gabriella says, convincing herself this is true considering they actually don’t know the exact reason why the classroom burst into flames. It was probably Troy’s blind spell, but who knows?

“Well you definitely know more than you’re saying,” Caroline says, crossing her arms over her chest.

“We took pictures, and we planned on leaving. Except we found this sketchy vampire named Sebastian who chatted with us for a few minutes, and then we left. That’s all,” Troy says with a minuscule smile, one that Caroline reads into intently. She looks to Gabriella, who has her best poker face on, one that doesn’t work on her mother.

Caroline purses her lips for a moment before asking, “Which one of you started it?”

“I did,” Troy says immediately, his voice strong. Gabriella looks at him incredulously, unsure as to why he didn’t put up a fight first. Caroline almost looks as if she’s doubting it, as if Troy could just be covering up for Gabriella’s usually reckless actions. But it’s obvious he’s telling the whole truth, and Caroline can tell.

“God Troy, how? Why?”

“It was an honest accident. I cast a blind spell and I think it’s the reason behind the fire,”

Caroline sighs, rubbing her temple, “You’re on probation until spring break. That’s the best I can do right now.”

Troy nods silently, but Gabriella feels the need to protest, “Wait that’s not fair.”

“Yes it is, Gabi. Just leave it,” Troy says, shaking his head as a signal for her to stop.

“No it’s not. I was with him, so technically I should also get probation, right?”

“Yeah I guess you should,”

“No don’t put _her_ on probation,” Troy says, holding out his hand in protest.

“I make the decisions around here, and I’ve decided both of you will be on probation until spring break. So get comfortable with the school grounds, because neither of you will be leaving soon.” Caroline says firmly, gesturing both of them out of the office. Troy and Gabriella get up, sighing as they head out the wooden French doors.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Last chapter I introduced the character Sebastian, and if you watch Legacies, you know exactly who he is! If you don't, he's portrayed by Thomas Doherty in the show. I just thought I'd say this so you guys can visualize him a bit better!

“The white oak dagger originated from the tree that provided the wood used for the very first vampire ritual in the history of time, performed by dark magic with Esther Mikaelson.” Some heads turned toward Troy, who kept his eyes fixed on the board.

“The dagger was the only weapon powerful enough to end the life of an Original vampire. The very last white oak dagger was eradicated in 2026 in New Orleans. The reasons and use of this dagger remain unknown,” The professor quickly and pitifully glances at Troy, quickly darting her eyes back to the rest of the class.

Troy sighs, fed up with the looks of pity, “The last dagger was used by Klaus Mikaelson.” This time, every head in the class whips around to look at Troy, who clenches his jaw and continues to look intently at the board.

“Thank you for that information, Troy. If you ever have anything else that you want to add, um, please don’t hesitate. The textbooks can’t tell us nearly as much as a Mikaelson can, of course,” the professor says with a small smile, attempting to curb the tension that has begun to build rapidly in the classroom.

“He used it to sacrifice himself,” Troy says, his voice low and sharp. The classroom is dead silent, and every pair of eyes continues to burn into Troy from all different angles.

The professor clears her throat, “Does anyone have any questions?”

MG quickly raises his hand, “I have a question about another weapon I read about last night on page 248… the Gilbert Device. Can you elaborate on its purpose please?”

The professor directs the class to flip to page 248 of their textbook. MG shoots Troy a glance, who gives him a subtle nod of gratitude. Troy keeps his eyes on the book until the end of class, ignoring the occasional glances he could feel all throughout.

Troy and MG walk in the hallway after class as the latter asks, “Bro you okay?”

Troy sighs softly, “Yeah, yeah I’m fine. That conversation is always just a really awkward one, I guess.”

“Well I’m always here, confused as hell about supernatural history, so don’t worry about it. I got your back,” MG says with a smile, which Troy returns. He spots Emelie walking toward them in the hallway, and he shoots her a smile.

“Hey Em,” he says, all three of them stopping momentarily.

“Hey,” she says, giving him a tight-lipped smile.

“Uh, what’s up?”

Em shrugs, “I don’t know, not much. Um, you?”

Troy shrugs as well, “Not much.” MG stands off to the side, internally rolling his eyes at the horribly awkward conversation taking place between these two.

To Troy’s surprise, Em speaks up again, this time a little more enthusiastic, “Oh! I heard that you met Sebastian the Merciless yesterday!”

MG furrows his eyebrows at Troy, “You met _who_ now? And you didn’t tell me?”

Troy holds his hands up in defense, “I was going to!”

Emelie chuckles softly, “Gabriella told me all about the encounter. And about the rest of the extremely chaotic trip you guys had.”

Troy looks at the ground and laughs, “Chaotic is a huge, huge understatement.”

“I could tell yesterday from the way Gabriella flopped onto her bed in exhaustion,” Emelie says with a small smile. She can’t help but feel a bit relieved that she’s having a normal conversation with Troy; something she hasn’t experienced since the night of the pageant. She also appreciates their conversations consisting of only good things about Gabriella, for before a lot of them were complaints and bitter utterances about her, mostly from Troy.

“On that note,” Troy smiles at Emelie, which still doesn’t fail to give her butterflies, “where’s your sister?” And just like that, the butterflies die.

Emelie pulls her lips into a thin line, not bitter but not as jubilant either, “She’s at the library. You guys have archery practice today, right?”

MG nods, “Yep, and once again without Mrs. Leong.”

“Is she ever here, at this point?” Troy asks wearily.

“No, and I don’t mind too much. She gave us permission to use the simulation again.”

Emelie nods awkwardly as the conversation falls silent, “Well um, I’ll catch you guys later.”

Troy and MG nod as well as she walks away, MG bursting into laughter when she’s a certain distance from them.

“What’s so funny?”

MG raises an eyebrow, “You’re literally the most awkward person I’ve ever met.”

Troy scoffs, “Awkward isn’t a part of my personality, thank you very much.”

“Maybe not usually, but the Montez twins got you in a chokehold.”

Troy raises an eyebrow too, “What do you mean by that?”

“You’re the most confident person until you’re talking to one of them, and then you can’t talk at all,” MG says with a knowing smirk.

“Absolute lies. Things are just weird after Emelie’s confession that night. And have you seen me interact with Gabriella? No awkwardness there!”

“When it comes to certain things, there is. Trust me, I know what I’ve seen,”

Troy chuckles, “MG, you know shit.”

“Whatever you say bro,” he says with a laugh, making Troy roll his eyes. They both make their way over to the Stefan Salvatore Memorial Library, finding students roaming here and there. Gabriella is seated on the vintage leather couch, her one ankle delicately crossed behind the other as she smooths her plaid skirt, reading the golden embroidered novel that Troy immediately recognizes.

“Hey idiots,” she says with a smirk, not even bothering to look up as she senses the two boys’ presence coming toward her.

“Hey mortal,” Troy says, creating a shadow over her as he stands in front of her, causing her to look up at him.

“We have archery,”

Troy nods, “That’s why we’re here. Let’s go.” Gabriella rises from the couch, closing her novel and holding it firmly to her side.

As they leave the library and head toward the dorm quarters, MG starts, “All right so now that you two are together, tell me about yesterday, because Troy told me shit.”

Troy groans, “I told you, I was _going_ to tell you.”

Gabriella rolls her eyes as she links her arm with MG’s, “Forget Troy, let me tell you.”

“Don’t fudge the details,” Troy mumbles.

“I won’t,” Gabriella replies, “So anyway, the first bad thing that happened was Troy exploding half the vials of blood.”

“Gabriella,” Troy says, enunciating every syllable in her name as Gabriella bursts out laughing.

“I’m kidding!” she says in an excessively cheery tone, making Troy roll his eyes. He turns his head slightly away from Gabriella and MG, no longer suppressing his small smile.

All three change into their archery uniforms and exit their quarters, forming back into a trio as they walk back toward the campus. They feel some pairs of eyes on them, as they usually do when any of them are dressed for archery, which consists of black pants, black sneakers, and black t-shirts that have the Salvatore School seal embroidered over their hearts in golden thread.

Of course, they also carry their bows and pack of arrows, slung over their shoulders. Gabriella walks slightly in front as Troy and MG walk on either side, trailing behind by only a little.

“Is Kym coming this time?” MG asks, to which Troy and Gabriella smirk.

“Ooh, is someone developing a crush?” Gabriella says playfully, poking MG in his arm.

“I just wanna know if she’s gonna become a normal member of our little archery team! That’s all!” MG exclaims.

Troy pats his shoulder, “But it’s _why_ you want to know that really matters…” Gabriella chuckles as MG rolls his eyes.

“You two are impossible to deal with,”

“We know,” she responds with a wide smile.

The three of them walk into the archery range built near the back of the school, kept off limits unless opened for beginners classes. However, the three of them have open access to it, and they see the little simulation pad sitting smack in the middle of the room.

“Oh hey,” they hear a voice saying as they walk in, turning around to see Kym walk through the door, looking just like them in terms of clothing.

“Hey Kym!” Gabriella says with a smile. She has taken a liking to Kym, especially because she isn’t supernaturally invincible like Troy and MG, but rather strong just as a mortal, like Gabriella herself.

“I don’t have access to the range yet, so I was waiting for you guys by the side,” Kym says with a chuckle, widening her smile slightly at MG.

“It seems she _will_ be joining our little archery team,” Troy says to MG quietly, smirking at him very subtly. MG barely notices as he smiles back at Kym. Gabriella silently turns to Troy, raising her eyebrows with a smile. The two of them are already planning on teasing their friend about his obvious crush for the next several weeks.

Troy walks up to the simulation pad as the other three converse, standing on top and trying to figure out how to turn it on. It’s supposed to start up just with his presence, but nothing seems to happen. He examines the corner, trying to find a button or something that will turn it on, until multiple golden beams are pointed at him. He lifts his head, looking around the room as the simulation recognizes his presence. Holographic targets appear around the room, catching the attention of the other three archers. The golden color of the holograms remind Troy of his own attempt at shockwave powers the day before, but he pushes away the thought, trying not to remember how it was ultimately a fail.

Troy removes his bow from his shoulder, positioning it in his arms. He pulls out an arrow and situates it on the bow, locating the farthest target from him, which is high up on the wall on the far side of the room. He narrows his sharp, blue eyes slightly, limiting his view to only the target. He releases his fingers and the arrow releases at full speed, penetrating the air and causing the holographic target to dissipate as it hits right in the center.

“Wow,” Kym says to herself.

“I bet you can do even better,” Gabriella says with a smirk, walking up to the simulation pad and tapping her foot two times. This causes the simulation to switch into enemy mode, in which human-like figures, built entirely out of holographic golden blocks, are the targets.

“Enemy mode is so much better,” Gabriella says to Troy in a low voice, smirking at him as he rolls his eyes. She spots a figure coming toward her from the corner of her eye, cueing her to remove her bow and pull out an arrow. She rapidly situates the arrow and retracts her arm, flipping her body over using the balls of her feet so she is aiming directly at the figure. She releases her grip on the arrow, causing it to burst the figure into its cubic particles.

Troy is only a few inches away from her as they’re both standing on the simulation pad, which isn’t that spacious to begin with. Gabriella drops her arms and turns around inattentively, nearly crashing into Troy. He catches her by her arms, looking at her with a small smirk.

“Well done, but next time be a little more aware of your surroundings,”

Gabriella rolls her eyes with a small smile, “You should’ve moved off of the pad.”

“Nah I was here first,”

Gabriella giggles, “You’re so annoying.”

Kym taps MG on the shoulder, “Are you _sure_ they’re not dating?”

MG chuckles quietly, “I’m sure, but I totally see where you’re coming from.” Another figure comes at Gabriella, but before she can retract her bow again, MG steps up to the job. He already has an arrow on his bow as he pulls his arm back, the arrow then releasing into the air with a purr, bursting the second cubic figure into its holographic pieces.

“How do you move so fast?” Gabriella asks with her eyebrows furrowed.

MG smirks, “It’s a vampire thing.”

“Yes I can vouch for that,” Troy says, crossing his arms over his chest.

Gabriella rolls her eyes, “We all know you can vouch for that, no need to emphasize it!”

“It shouldn’t bother you unless you’re jealous…” Troy smirks.

“You don’t need to be jealous to be irritated by arrogance,”

“Yes I can vouch for that,” Kym says, taking Troy by surprise as Gabriella laughs.

Troy is about to respond when yet another holographic figure appears from behind Troy, and Kym spots it immediately. She spins around on the balls of her feet similarly to Gabriella, positioning and retracting her bow simultaneously before releasing the arrow. The arrow zips through the air, barely missing Troy’s face as it passes his head and pierces the target. The figure bursts into its cubic particles as Troy stays frozen in his spot. He lifts his eyes to look at Kym, who’s smirking.

“You’re just…” Troy takes a deep breath, “full of surprises, aren’t you?”

“The tribrid nearly got beheaded by a human. How does it feel?” MG asks, stifling a snicker while Troy rolls his eyes.

The four of them train for the next hour, shooting as many targets and holographic figures the simulation throws at them. Kym proves her impeccable skill and a spot on the exclusive advanced archery group, now consisting of four members. The four archers disperse after training, although Troy and Gabriella decide to take a walk in the woods before returning to their quarters, as both of them do not have classes for the rest of the day. They have their bows and arrows slung over their shoulders as they stroll through the neighboring woods.

“It’s been a day of probation, but I’m already dying,” Gabriella says with a groan.

“Gabi it hasn’t even been a full twenty-four hours,”

“Shut up and let me sulk,”

Troy chuckles, “At least we’ve got this, right?”

Gabriella smiles softly, “Yeah I guess. Although these woods aren’t all too exciting.”

“Well when you ask for excitement, you get ten hungry vampires. I’d be careful what you wish for…”

“Eleven vampires,” Gabriella corrects, “We can’t forget good old Sebastian the Merciless.”

“Talking about me?” A voice with a British accent says from behind Troy and Gabriella, who spin around simultaneously, retracting their bows and aiming it at the sound.

“Ugh not you again,” Gabriella says with a roll of her eyes, pulling her bow back just a little.

“Wow you’re _great_ at jinxing things, aren’t you?” Troy mumbles, narrowing his eyes at Sebastian.

“Shut up!” Gabriella aggressively whispers back as Sebastian chuckles.

“You can put your weapons down now,” he says.

Troy scoffs, “I’d rather not.”

“I’m not here to kill either of you,”

“Ok so why are you here then?” Gabriella spits back.

Sebastian takes a step forward, “Because of you.” Troy steps forward as well, slightly in Gabriella’s direction so he’s partially covering her.

Sebastian laughs, “Oh dear, it’s the protective best friend. I must beware.”

“You’re certainly right about that,” Troy says in a low tone, clenching his jaw and narrowing his blue eyes in Sebastian’s direction.

“What the hell do you mean by you came because of me?” Gabriella asks, stepping a bit to the side.

“Nothing in particular, you just…” Sebastian takes another step forward, “remind me of an old lover of mine.”

“That’s nice, now leave,” Gabriella retorts with a sarcastic smile.

“Oh but what if I were to hang around?”

“Then I’d kill you before you take another step,” Troy says with his own sarcastic smile as he pulls a little on his bow.

“Relax, wolf, you don’t n—”

“Tribrid,” Gabriella corrects, looking off to the side as if bored.

Sebastian pauses for a moment, and then laughs, “A what?”

“Tribrid. Vampire, werewolf, and witch,” Troy clarifies.

“Well I knew about the latter two… but you’re very much _not_ immortal,”

Troy rolls his eyes, “When I die, I’ll become a vampire. Have you now understood what I am, or do you need me to explain it in simpler words?”

“Yeah anyway,” Gabriella says with a scoff, “You do realize you’re trespassing, right?”

“I already checked in as a visitor, darling,” Sebastian says with a smile.

Gabriella puts down her bow and holds out her palm instead, “Darling? Uh-uh, no pet names allowed.”

“I’m very sorry,” Sebastian says in a low tone, “I was actually going to explore this stunning campus of yours. I shall get on with my day.” He smirks condescendingly as he walks past them, heading toward the campus.

Troy slings his bow back on his shoulder and picks up Gabriella’s from the ground, “Great, now we can’t even be on campus.”

“And we can’t leave either,” Gabriella says with a roll of her eyes, outstretching her arm so he can hand her the bow.

“How perfect,” Troy says, still holding her bow in her hand.

“Can I have my bow now?”

“No I’ll take it,”

“Why?”

Troy chuckles, “Because I want to.”

“I can’t tell if this is you being nice or arrogant,”

“Nice,” Troy says with a smirk.

“You’re gonna look stupid carrying a bow on either shoulder,”

“I’m carrying both on one shoulder, stupid,” Troy slings both his bow and her bow on his left shoulder, smirking at her as they begin to head back toward the school, deciding to go back to their quarters.

“So…” Gabriella starts hesitantly, “anything interesting happening in your life?”

“Besides the fact that I started a huge school fire yesterday, which you were there to witness and even yelled at me for? Nothing,” he laughs softly, “Also ew is that your attempt at small talk?”

“Don’t ‘ew’ me, at least I’m trying,”

“Okay okay, well nothing particularly interesting has happened today. There was the whole white oak dagger thing before practice, but it wasn’t interesting. And you probably don’t want to hear about it,” Troy pulls his lips into a straight line and faces front as they walk into the witch quarters and start up the staircase.

Gabriella licks her bottom lip, “I don’t mind hearing about it.” Troy turns his head toward her momentarily before sighing.

“Yeah well MG and I were in Supernatural History, and we got to the dreaded part about white oak daggers, which you know were the only weapons powerful enough to kill my family. And I just impulsively mentioned that my dad used the last one… to sacrifice himself,” he sighs softly yet again as Gabriella bites the inside of her cheek.

“It’s- it’s okay. As someone who says practically everything impulsively and precipitately, I know the feeling afterwards sucks,” Gabriella says.

Troy nods, “Yeah it definitely is, but I mean I’m over that, I guess. I don’t know, you asked for something interesting, and that’s all I’ve got to give you.” They climb the rest of the way in silence and begin to walk toward their rooms.

Gabriella clears her throat, “Fun fact, my mom once went on a mission with her friends to get white oak daggers and kill your family.” She begins to laugh until she realizes he isn’t laughing with her.

“I- god this is what I mean. I have no filter, I’m sorry that was so insensitive,” she says defeatedly.

“It was a little uncalled for, yeah,” he turns to her and smiles softly, “but I already knew. Your mom told me herself personally because she didn’t want me to find out from someone else… such as her blabbermouth daughter.”

“Oh shut up,” she says softly, smiling to herself, “I still feel awful though.”

Troy shakes his head, “It’s fine, Gabriella. Don’t worry.” She takes a deep breath, feeling slightly off kilter, as she usually does when she says something out of line.

“Okay,” she says simply, her voice quiet.

Troy opens his room door, her bow still slung on his shoulder with his own, “I have a fun fact too. I’m not sure if you know about this part, but your mom’s friend tried to kill my aunt, and she went and burned their wood supply while the guy was sleeping.” Both of them begin to laugh, because something about the way Troy described it was humorous. This was something else that Gabriella truly envies about Troy: he can make people feel the exact emotion that he intends. He wants to make people laugh? They always do. He wants to make people feel intimidated? They always do. It’s almost like he’s using constant compulsion, but it’s just his personality and his way with words.

Troy walks all the way into his room, setting both bows down on a chair on the side. He expects to see Gabriella behind him, but instead sees her lingering by the door. He looks at her questioningly, a small smile playing on his lips.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, why?”

“You’re kinda just,” he gestures to her, “standing there confused.”

“I’m not confused, I’m just standing here.”

Troy darts his eyes to the side as his smirk widens with amusement, “Well aren’t you gonna come in?”

“You never invited me in! I didn’t want to intrude,”

“Are you a vampire? No, I don’t think so. I didn’t think I’d have to invite you in,”

Gabriella rolls her eyes, “You know what I mean.”

Troy chuckles, “Yeah yeah, you may come in.” Gabriella smiles sheepishly as she steps into his room, unable to keep herself from looking around. She instantly notices how different it is from her room with her sister, and any other dorm room she’s been in really; she can practically smell the wealth and class of the Mikaelsons from just his dorm room.

“I’ve heard that you don’t really let people into your room,” she mumbles, not sure if he heard her or not.

He confirms that he did when he replies, “Well a lot of people just randomly stop by for no reason, so I just get it over with by the door.” He chuckles, unsure as to why this is something that people even talk about.

“You should let more people come in,”

“Why?”

“Your room is stunning,”

Troy raises his eyebrows, “Really? I didn’t try with the interior design, but thanks.”

Gabriella giggles, “I wonder what it would look like if you did try. There are so many nice things everywhere, and I’m trying my hardest not to touch them.”

Troy drops his eyebrows and smiles, “You can touch them, Gabi.” Her smile widens into a big grin as she traces the edge of a Harvard Classics edition of _Wealth of Nations_ by Adam Smith, the dark green and golden color scheme appealing to her greatly.

“I’ve always adored the way Harvard Classics looked,”

“Same here,” Troy replies.

“My favorite colors are actually green and golden, so…” she giggles, gesturing dramatically to the multiple Harvard Classics stacked perfectly on the table. Gabriella continues to carefully make her way around the room, feeling Troy’s eyes following her.

“Oh wow,” she breathes out as her eyes fall on the painting hung up on the wall next to his bed. He walks over to her, standing next to her and looking up at it. She continues to admire the painting with a big smile; she does not realize his eyes watching her.

“Did your dad paint this? It’s absolutely gorgeous,” Gabriella says softly, the yellows and gold on the painting capturing her attention immediately. She doesn’t really know what the painting is supposed to depict, but it looks like a little ball of light that sprawls out into the air around it, hues of golden and even this nice, holographic rainbow adding a burst of color.

Troy bites his bottom lip momentarily before softly saying, “Actually, I painted it.” Gabriella whips her head in his direction, looking up at him and laughing jubilantly.

“Oh my god, are you serious?”

Troy’s small smile widens into a larger one, “Yeah, I made this.”

“You’re _incredibly_ talented,” she says with a scoff, still in shock.

Troy looks at the ground and chuckles, something he tends to do when he’s flattered, “Thank you. It’s something that I get from my dad, however. I’ve always loved to paint, and it’s always been something that I’ve been particularly inclined at.”

“Inclined? That’s an understatement,”

“It’s really not,”

“Yes it is! This painting, it reminds me of the orb you made yesterday at the high school. Mixed with a basic light orb, you know like the one I made last month in I&C. Also mixed with that colorful glitch that you might see on an old, broken computer, and I mean that in a good way,” Gabriella says practically all in one breath, making Troy laugh.

“Well that was a mouthful, but that’s exactly what I was going for. I don’t really have a name for it, but it was just supposed to be- a golden orb of electricity. Like a mix of traditional witchcraft and electricity? Ah, I don’t know.” Both of them begin to laugh as he fails to describe his painting.

“What’s important is that it’s beautiful,”

“Once again, thank you,” Troy smiles, “and it’s actually inspired off of the whole shockwave myth. It’s something I read in my Aunt Freya’s many books of prophecies, myths, and forbidden spells. There’s many random predictions about what a tribrid can do in those books, many of those productions being false. But this one… it said that if a tribrid were to ever come to life, it would be able to spontaneously manifest these lightning-esque powers, mostly in the form of circular orbs.”

Gabriella swallows hard, turning to him once again, “Wow, and you made one of those orbs yesterday, meaning you have these super cool shockwave powers.”

Troy shakes his head, “No not really. I don’t even know if what I made had shockwaves in it. It was just an orb, and technically that could just be a typical light orb. And when I tried to shoot it, it didn’t do anything, so I don’t know.”

“Either way, that orb yesterday was incredible. Almost as incredible as this painting, which I’m still so utterly shocked is made by you,”

Troy puts his hand to his chest is feigned offense, “What’s that supposed to mean? You don’t think I’m capable of artistic talent?” Gabriella slaps his arm playfully as he breaks his facade of fake disappointment and begins to laugh.

They both stand in silence looking at the painting for a few more moments before Gabriella suddenly turns her body toward him, looking to ask something.

“You know how Sebastian called you… the protective best friend?” she asks carefully.

Troy nods slightly, “Uh, yeah.”

“You didn’t protest,”

“Why would I?”

“So does that mean we’re… best friends? I mean just a month ago, we were enemies,”

“A lot can change in a month,”

Gabriella bites her bottom lip while smiling, “So you really consider me your— best friend?”

Troy purses his lips subtly, “It’s more of a ‘she’s best friend material’ type feeling, if that makes any sense.”

Gabriella’s smile widens, “I get that, because honestly same here.”

“We’ll get there,”

“I didn’t think we’d get even this far, so this is news,”

“Good or bad news?”

“Great,” She says softly, stifling her smile so it doesn’t go out of control. A part of her feels very giddy in this conversation, because she looks back on it… people have always judged her too quickly, resulting in them being scared of her or taking advantage of her. She’s never had someone to call her best friend besides her twin sister.

A part of her also wants to stay in his room, just sit and ask him about his family and everything else interesting about him that he’s been keeping in a box for all these years. But she feels out of place; a basic Gemini witch standing amidst thousand-year-old mini sculptures and novels taken right from the British Museum, with probably Valentino shoes and Hermès cologne sitting within the confines of his dresser.

“So uh,” Troy starts, “what do you wanna do now?”

“I- I think I’m go in my room until dinner. I’ll see you then?” Gabriella says rather quietly as Troy nods, stifling his disappointment. He hates being asked about his family, but it’s somehow liberating when he talks about them to Gabriella. _Maybe another time._

The students gather for dinner a few hours later in the dining hall, with Troy not attending all together. Sometimes he shows up and sometimes he doesn’t, and Gabriella usually prefers when he does because it gives her someone to annoy the entire time. Tonight, she was really hoping that he would show up, and she wasn’t really sure why. Maybe it’s because now they consider themselves best friends, something she’s never had before.

Gabriella turns to Emelie, “So anything new?”

Emelie sighs, “Absolutely nothing. My life is literally so boring.”

“Lies, I bet there’s something interesting going on,” Gabriella thinks for a moment until her eyes light up, “Any boy/girl troubles? Not troubles, but you know what I mean.”

Emelie chuckles, “Nope. Penelope’s being satanic as usual, and I don’t really talk to her that much anymore anyway.”

“As you shouldn’t,” Gabriela mumbles.

“And nothing with anyone else in particular,”

“What about Troy?”

“What about him?”

“Are we any closer to getting a declaration of love out of him?” Gabriella asks with a happy wiggle of her shoulders.

Emelie bursts out laughing, “Declaration of love? Please, if I’ve given up, you should too. He barely even sees me at this point.”

“Untrue. MG, back me up here,” Gabriella says, aggressively poking him on the shoulder. MG is about to put a piece of grilled chicken in his mouth as he turns to her incredibly confused.

“I— for what?” He asks with a sigh.

“Troy doesn’t think Em’s invisible, right?”

MG immediately puts his fork down and shakes his head vigorously, “No way! He’s definitely crushing on you, if anything.”

Emelie’s mouth opens, “Woah what?”

“We all know he’s got that tribrid confidence, right?”

Gabriella smirks, “I’d say arrogance, but yeah sure.”

MG chuckles, “Anywho, he loses that entirely when he’s with you. He’s super awkward, it’s hilarious.”

“Are you sure he’s awkward because he likes me though?” Emelie winces quietly, “Might be because I tarnished my friendship with him by revealing my crush.”

Gabriella rolls her eyes, “It’s obviously because he likes you! I don’t even know if I’m supposed to tell you this, but…” she bites her bottom lip, “he actually did have a crush on you at some point. He literally told me this.”

“He told me too,” MG says with a nod.

Emelie scoffs, “No way. Why would he have a crush on me?”

“I’m not even gonna attempt to explain how horrible of a question that is,” Gabriella says, “but he wanted to escort you to the pageant.”

“That’s impossible,” Em says mostly to herself.

“Why?”

“Well… he escorted you!”

“Because my escort was an immature asshole who left me on the stairs! I was about to have a breakdown, and sometimes those end with glass shattering all around the room. That wouldn’t be good at a public pageant with human townies in it, now would it?” Gabriella raises her eyebrows, “He protected the school from disaster, if anything.”

Emelie looks at MG, “Seriously?”

MG nods with a small smile, “Yep. I don’t think anyone but the two of us know about it, but yeah this is all true.”

Emelie can’t help but smile coyly, “Well this is… news.”

“Good news,” MG says.

“ _Great_ news!” Gabriella exclaims.

“All right, but you said that he crushed on me at some point,” Em sighs, “That means he’s not crushing on me anymore. Obviously not, considering he probably would have admitted his feelings if he still did.”

Gabriella bites her lip as she also knows that he doesn’t have a crush on her anymore, “Well, I don’t know anything about that. I just thought you’d like to know.”

“If you were looking to reignite my crush on Troy, then yeah, you were successful,” Em says with a smirk, playfully nudging Gabriella.

The dining hall empties out an hour later, and students disperse around the campus or into their quarters, keeping track of time so they’re in their quarters by their eleven-thirty p.m. curfew. Emelie takes the side path toward the witch quarters, taking her time to walk in the spring night air. She feels the presence of another figure heading toward her, however she keeps sight on the trees next to her, watching the trees gently sway in the light breeze.

“Oh hey Em,” the figure says, who Emelie recognizes as Troy in the dark night.

She smiles, “Hey, what’s up?”

“Nothing, I was just taking a walk.”

“Yeah, same here,” she gestures to the campus behind her, “Just coming back from dinner.”

He smiles, “I know you just came from that direction, but do you wanna walk with me?”

Emelie can’t help but feel flustered, “Yeah, uh, I’d love to.” She turns around as he begins to walk forward, both of them head toward the campus side-by-side.

“Have you by any chance seen a kinda creepy vampire with a super defined jawline?” Troy suddenly asks her, making her burst out laughing.

“No I have not— why do you ask?”

“Oh well that super defined jawline dude is Sebastian,”

Emelie furrows her eyebrows, “Sebastian as in… the textbook guy you guys met yesterday?”

“Yep, he’s a visitor here. Except Gabriella and I encountered him in the woods today, and that was the last time we saw him,”

“Oh shit,” Emelie says quietly, “well I haven’t seen him, but I’m guessing that’s problematic,”

Troy scoffs, “Yeah, I mean the description of him in the textbook was already suspicious.”

“Suspicious isn’t the word, but sure,” Emelie says with a smirk.

“Fine, horrifying,” Troy smiles at her, “but I just hope he hasn’t killed anyone yet.”

Emelie swallows, “Yeah his title kinda has the word ‘merciless’ in it, and it’s suddenly making me a little nervous.”

Troy nudges her very slightly with his elbow, “No need to be nervous when you have a tribrid who’s very much willing to rip Sebastian’s head off. He can’t hurt us.” Emelie smiles to herself, pressing her lips together as she feels her cheeks getting red. _Thank god it’s nighttime._

Emelie clears her throat as a rather awkward silence falls between them, and she knows what she’s about to say is only going to make it more awkward, “So um… Gabriella told me something today at dinner. As did MG.”

Troy looks at her curiously, “Oh, uh, does it have anything to do with me?”

Emelie chuckles anxiously, “Sorta. Actually… it entirely has to do with you. They told me that you had a crush on me at some point.”

Troy raises his eyebrows, facing his head slightly away from her, “That’s— well that… sounds like an interesting conversation.”

“I’m sorry if I just made things worse by confronting you about this, but I was just super curious and really wanted to ask y—”

“Emelie,” Troy interjects, “It’s fine, you didn’t make anything worse. They told you to the truth, so I mean it’s not a big deal.” Emelie’s jaw drops slightly, that feeling of shock from before hitting her again, this time much stronger as the confession is coming straight from his mouth.

“So y-you really had a crush on me?” She asks quietly.

Troy sighs, “Yeah, I did. I actually planned on escorting you to the pageant, but Penelope beat me to it.”

Emelie internally curses Penelope, “That’s what Gabi told me, too.”

“But um, things worked out a little differently. The only thing that was kinda consistent with my plans was that I ended up escorting a Montez anyway,” Troy says with a chuckle, making Emelie laugh as well.

“On that note, thank you for what you did for Gabi that night,” Emelie says with a smile, “Landon is an asshole, but I’m glad you were there to help her. Especially because I was the absolute worst sister during that time too. I kinda still am.”

Troy feels the deja vu energy from this conversation, as Gabriella said something so similar about herself only two days ago, “No, you’re not a bad sister. Neither is Gabriella,” he chuckles, “She actually said the same thing a few days ago, and I told her that self-deprecation runs in the family. I guess it really does, huh?”

Emelie rolls her eyes playfully, “We’re just wary about ourselves.”

Troy coughs, “Insecure.”

“Shut up!” Emelie gasps, slapping him on the air playfully as he laughs. Troy can’t help but notice how her hit is a bit lighter than Gabriella’s.

“Well anyway, yes I did have a crush on you at some point. But things… you know, uh, they,” Troy finds himself at a loss of words.

Emelie nods in understanding, masking her disappointment with a smile, “I get what you mean. Things have changed, and you don’t feel that way anymore. And that’s perfectly fine.”

Troy purses his lips, “That’s actually not what I was going to say.”

Emelie stops in her tracks, “Then what were you going to say?” _Oh god, is it happening?_

“I was going to say that I’m not really sure how I feel about anyone. I’ve never been good at deciphering my own feelings, especially when it comes to crushes and whatnot. So like— it’s not that my crush for you has disappeared, but it’s…”

“…not as heightened anymore?” Emelie finishes for him rather hesitantly.

Troy nods in relief, “I’m glad you understand what I’m having a lot of trouble telling you.” Both of them chuckle lightly as Emelie shuffles slightly in her position, the butterflies in her stomach flapping their wings furiously. _MG was right, he does get flustered around me. Wow._ Her smile unconsciously widens.

“Oh look, it’s the tribrid,” they hear a voice say from the side, causing both of them to turn toward the sound. Troy feels even more deja vu as the voice belongs to same person he encountered with Gabriella before: Sebastian.

“So I see you haven’t left yet,” Troy says bitterly.

“I just got here, I can’t possibly leave so fast,” Sebastian says with a smirk.

“Sure you can,” Emelie says, catching Sebastian’s attention.

“Oh, another one of Troy’s friends. Lovely to meet you, darling. My name is Sebastian,”

“Yes I’ve heard,” she retorts curtly, glaring at him. Sebastian takes a step forward in Emelie’s direction as she stands her ground; Troy stays in his spot as well, prepared to cast a spell in necessary. Or maybe just throw a punch.

“So where’s your little friend?” Sebastian asks Troy.

Troy knows who he’s talking about, but decides to play dumb, “Who’s my little friend?”

“What was her name?” Sebastian waves his hand in the air, “Ah yes, Gabriella.” Emelie’s attention is peaked yet again at the sound of her sister’s name.

“Why? What do you want with her?” She spits out at Sebastian, who looks at her with an eyebrow raised.

“It seems Gabriella’s got two protectors, eh? The best friend,” he gestures to Troy, “and you, whatever you are to her.”

“I’m her sister, and you’re not getting anywhere near her,” Emelie says in a low, threatening tone; Troy is slightly taken aback by the sound of her voice.

“Oh and what are you going to do to stop me?”

Emelie moves her hands in a circular motion in front of her, looking at the brightness emerging from her palms and then slowly lifting her eyes to meet Sebastian’s.

“I’ll burn you to death,” she says as Troy watches intently from the side.

Sebastian licks his lips, smirking amusedly, “By all means, you may do so. But don’t be too upset when the headmistress sees you lighting the poor visitor on fire…” Troy and Emelie look at him confused until they realize he can hear everything in a certain distance, and Caroline is probably heading in their direction. Emelie instantly eliminates the fireball between her hands as Sebastian disappears into the woods using his vampire speed.

Neither Troy and Emelie say anything as they continue along down the path, knowing that the headmistress is probably within earshot (the perks of having a vampire as the headmistress). Unsurprisingly, they see Caroline emerge from around the corner of the main school building.

“Hey mom,” Emelie says with an innocent smile, which Troy mimics as well.

“Hi sweetie,” Caroline looks at Troy and smiles, “Hi Troy.”

“Hi,” he says quietly, unsure as to how to react considering the last time he interacted with her as last night when she put him on probation.

“How’s probation?” Caroline asks with a minuscule smirk as Troy scoffs.

“That’s just mean, Headmistress,” he says with a chuckle, “but in all honesty, not that bad.”

“That’s good to hear, because I bet Gabi has more complaints.”

Emelie scoffs, “Yes she does.” Troy laughs quietly to himself, realizing a moment after that neither one of them are laughing with him. He clears his throat awkwardly and averts his eyes toward the woods.

Caroline leaves Emelie and Troy to continue on their walk, which doesn’t last too long either. Meanwhile, Gabriella is sitting by the old mill in the woods, unintentionally stargazing. She replays several conversations in her head, some of them merging together as her tired brain also traces the patterns of the stars above.

_“Oh dear, it’s the protective best friend. I must beware.”_

_“Why would he have a crush on me?”_

_“Actually, I painted it.”_

_“Uh-uh, no pet names allowed."_

_“You’re kinda just standing there confused.”_

Gabriella can barely decipher who said what as she feels like she’s going to doze off, until she hears the crunching of leaves and instantly shoots up into sitting position. She rises onto her feet and looks around, narrowing her eyes threateningly.

“Well hello,” she hears from the side, whipping her head around to see Sebastian. She immediately rolls her eyes.

“What do you want?”

“Nothing much,”

“Nothing much isn’t the same as nothing. There’s something that you want, what is it?” she repeats.

Sebastian walks over to her slowly, “I want to get to know you.”

Gabriella scoffs, “And why is that?”

“I already told you, you remind me of an old lover of mine,”

“Is it Cassandra?” She says with a small smirk as Sebastian’s expression freezes for a split second.

“Was she also in your little textbook?” He asks quietly.

“Yes she was, I’ve got her named underlined in my notebook,” Gabriella takes a step toward him, “So how do I remind you of her?”

“Your eyes,” he says almost immediately, almost stepping forward in her direction so that he’s practically towering over her, “and your lips, too.”

Gabriella takes note of his jawline and sharp, blue-hazel eyes as she cranes her neck to look up at him, “My lips? What, do they look like hers?”

“They do,” he says rather slowly, drawing out his words with a sensuous tone.

“Would you like to know,” she says in a hoarse whisper, getting up onto her toes so she’s closer to his face, “if they feel like hers too?” Sebastian smirks as he leans down, closing the gap between their lips. He wraps one arm around her waist while holding her chin with her other hand. She firmly kisses back, tracing his neck muscles with her fingers.

Their kisses become more aggressive as she slips her hand underneath his white t-shirt, feeling the muscular grooves on his abdomen. He removes his shirt entirely while simultaneously allowing his tongue to slip into her mouth. She allows him to pull her navy blue crop-top off from her head as he moves his lips down to her neck. He pushes her to the staircase of the mill, pinning her onto the wood as he kisses a sensitive spot on her neck, making her breathe out.

The mill is deserted and rather far from the school. It’s the same spot in which Troy took Gabriella the day of the pageant to scream out her anger. No one can hear anything from here, something Gabriella and Sebastian take advantage of.

—

“Yes! I knew it!” Gabriella exclaims happily as Emelie smiles widely.

“I can’t believe it, not only did he actually have a crush on me like you said, but he might still have one. He’s just super unsure,”

“He’ll be sure about it soon enough, especially if you show off your pyromaniac witch side more often in front of him,” Gabriella says with a smirk.

Emelie purses her lips, “I don’t think being a pyromaniac witch is gonna help.”

“Are you serious? A powerful siphoner witch whose main weapon is fire? If he isn’t attracted to that then what _is_ he attracted to?”

Emelie giggles, “Shut up, Gabs. You’re not off the hook, you know.”

Gabriella groans, “Ugh, please I told you I don’t wanna talk about it anymore.”

“Ok but you did it with a hot vampire, how else am I supposed to react?”

“You also nearly burned him to a crisp last night,”

“Yeah because I thought he wanted to kill you!”

Gabriella laughs, “All right, fair enough.”

Emelie rises from the edge of the bed, “I gotta go do an Honor Council thing.”

“Ooh is it with Troy?” Gabriella wiggles her shoulders.

“Nope,” Emelie laughs again, “This was assigned to only me.”

“Unfortunately,” her sister says with a dramatic sigh.

“I’m gonna go, see you later Gabi,”

“Bye!” Gabriella flops back onto her bed as Emelie leaves the room. She outstretches her arm toward her bookshelf in front of the bed, summoning her copy of _A Little Life_ by Hanya Yanagihara to her hand. She never gets to start her Saturday morning by simply lounging on her bed and reading, so she’s taken the opportunity to do so today. A sigh escapes her lips as she’s almost immediately immersed into her novel, a relaxed feeling overtaking her entirely. That is, until there’s a knock at the door.

Gabriella groans to herself before calling it out, “Who is it?” Her phone pings beside her, a text message banner appearing. She rolls her eyes when she sees it’s a text message from Troy that simply says “lol me”.

She quickly texts back, “you may come in idiot”. The door is carefully opened from the other side, revealing a smiling Troy standing by the doorframe.

Gabriella glares at him with a disappointed pout, “What do you want?”

“Nothing much,”

Gabriella’s eyes go wide as she realizes that’s exactly what Sebastian told her the night before. Her mind starts to race: _Holy shit, no way Troy was… there, right? While we… EW NO WAY!_

Troy furrows his eyebrows in confusion, “Uh, are you okay?”

Gabriella peers at him closely before realizing that he doesn’t know anything; it just happened to be a coincidence, “Yeah yeah, I’m fine. Anywho, I’m trying to relax and read a book on this very comfortable Saturday morning.”

“I actually spotted Sebastian roaming around the grounds and wanted to let you know,”

Gabriella’s eyes fall back to the book, “We’ll kick his ass later. But right now,” she looks back up at his blue eyes, “Either you join me in my reading endeavors or you leave me alone. Your call.” Troy leans against the doorframe with his arms crossed, narrowing his eyes playfully. A few moments later, he sighs and steps inside the room, closing the door behind him.

“I guess I’ll have to join you on your reading endeavors,” he says with a small smirk as Gabriella smiles at him from behind her book, only her squinted eyes showing. She scoots over on her bed, moving toward the middle so there’s ample amount of space for Troy to lie down as well. He does so rather hesitantly, suddenly feeling awkward as he didn’t realize agreeing to her offer would mean sitting next to her.

Troy carefully places himself beside Gabriella, his shoulders against her fluffy pillows. Her left arm is right up against his right arm, and Gabriella unconsciously tilts her body toward him as she stays immersed in her book. Troy examines the bookshelf in front for a moment before outstretching his arm, a copy of _Swann’s Way_ by Marcel Proust ending up in his hand a second later.

“You know I actually haven’t read that one yet,” Gabriella says without looking up from her book, adjusting her legs a little which causes her knee to very slightly touch the side of Troy’s leg.

“The first time I read it was actually in French,” Troy says casually, flipping to the first page as Gabriella slowly turns to him with her jaw dropped.

“I— you read it in freaking French?”

Troy chuckles, “Yeah, why?”

Gabriella scoffs, “Um, I didn’t know you knew French!” Troy blinks and opens his mouth as if to say something, but then closes it as some realization seems to hit him.

“Wait, do people not know that I’m fluent at French?”

“Uh, hello? No we do not!” Gabriella exclaims, her gaping expression slowly turning into a smile.

“Wow, so all these years I’ve been going to this school, no one has known that I’m bilingual?” Troy scoffs, “You have _got_ to be kidding me.”

“Maybe if you mentioned it!”

“I thought I did! I must have at some point!”

“Nope, because the news would’ve spread like wildfire if you had!” Gabriella rolls her eyes, turning her body in his direction a little more as she looks up at his side profile, “Say something in French.”

“No,”

“Please?”

“No,”

“Troy,”

“Gabriella,”

“Ugh! You’re so annoying!” she huffs and turns her body forward again, returning her eyes to her novel.

“C’est moi qui suis ennuyeux?” He mumbles, causing Gabriella to whip her head in his direction again.

“Ooh! What did you say?”

“I’m the annoying one?” He says with a smirk as she slaps him on the arm.

“Yes, you are,”

“Disons qu'on n'est pas d’accord,” Troy shrugs as Gabriella groans in confusion, unable to decipher the words coming out of his mouth.

“You’re gonna use this against me now, aren’t you?”

Troy smirks, “You asked for it.”

“I hate you,”

“I hate you too.” They exchange sarcastic smiles before returning to their books. Several minutes pass with them arm-to-arm on the bed, their eyes and minds absorbed by the novels in their hands. Gabriella is finally feeling that sense of relaxation wash over her when the door opens all of a sudden.

Both Troy and Gabriella simultaneously turn their heads toward the door, their eyes narrow and glaring at the intruder.

“Well I certainly didn’t expect this,” Sebastian says with a suspicious smile, standing in the doorframe with his hands in his pockets. He suggestively looks at the duo on the bed, lying with zero space between their bodies. Gabriella is very slightly tilted toward Troy, her toned abs almost entirely exposed as a result of her olive green cropped hoodie, and the fact that she’s leisurely relaxing on the bed. Sebastian starts to doubt Troy’s whole best friend status, joining in the same boat as the vast majority of the school’s students.

Troy’s sharp blue eyes are like slits, “So did they not teach etiquette in the 1500s or something? Because I’m pretty sure you just broke into a student’s room.”

Sebastian chuckles bitterly, “I thought this was Gabriella’s room. As per what she told me last night, it’s Room WI15… so why are you answering for her, wolf?”

“Tribrid,” Gabriella corrects yet again, her voice low and threatening, “and he’s answering for me because you literally did just break into my room so…” She laughs bitterly, her eyes throwing daggers at the vampire.

“It was open, darling,”

“I thought I said no pet names. And even if it is open, you gotta knock first.”

“I think it’s time you leave,” Troy says in a deep, threatening tone.

Sebastian leaves on the doorframe, “I don’t think you’re the one to decide that, now are you?”

“Fine, then I will,” Gabriella tightens her grip on her novel, siphoning from it as she outstretches her other hand, “Leave now or I’ll make you, and trust me when I say it’ll hurt.” Troy looks at her quickly from the corner of his eyes, a smirk making its way onto his face as he returns his eyes to Sebastian.

The vampire backs out of the room, tilting his chin up and laughing, “I think it’s lovely how you’re trying to kill me one second, and then the next…” Sebastian raises his eyebrows amusedly before closing the door and walking away. Gabriella clenches her jaw and looks back down at her novel, hoping Troy doesn’t question what that was all about.

Troy furrows his eyebrows, and much to her dismay, asks about the dreaded events of the night before, “First of all, why’d you give him your room number? Second of all, what did he mean by the last part?”

“Nothing,” she mumbles as Troy narrows his eyes.

“What are you hiding, mortal?” He nudges her playfully as a small smile appears on her face, one that evidently displays embarrassment.

“Nothing!”

“I don’t believe that,”

“Ugh! Fine!” She sighs defeatedly, “I may or may not have had a one night stand with Sebastian last night.” She slowly turns her head to look at Troy, who’s looking at her as if she just said she blew up a building. His stern expression startles her slightly until he breaks into laughter.

“Oh my god, _what_?” Troy puts his hand on his forehead as he laughs, “Wow I bet you’re regretting that life decision!” Gabriella shoves him violently, groaning in annoyance.

“Shut up! This is why I didn’t wanna tell you!”

“What could have possibly compelled you to do that?” He says, still smiling widely as a result of the laughter that has only slightly subsided.

“Probation,” she says curtly, burying her nose in her book as Troy continues to laugh beside her.

Gabriella puts her book down beside her, sitting up suddenly, “It’s time to go kick his ass.”

“You said that was for later,”

“It’s later, let’s go,” Gabriella hops off the bed from the other side as Troy gets off from his side. He places the book on her bed and follows her out of the room.

Troy and Gabriella make their way onto the great lawn, students dispersed across the bright, flourishing greenery surrounding the school.

“Hey Em!” Gabriella calls out to her sister, who seems to have just finished talking to another student.

“Hey guys,” Emelie says, not surprised to see Troy by her sister’s side.

“Are you done with your Honor Council stuff?”

“Yep,”

“Oh no,” Troy says with a sigh, “What Honor Council stuff?”

Emelie giggles, “Nothing you have to worry about.”

Troy smiles, “That’s a relief.” He doesn’t break eye contact with Emelie for a short moment, something that Gabriella very joyfully notices.

A switch goes off in Gabriella’s mind, “Do you wanna join us on a murder mission to kill Sebastian?”

Emelie furrows his eyebrows, “I— you’re trying to kill him? Why the sudden change in attitude?” Her eyes widen when she realizes Troy is right there, “And by that I mean, um…”

Troy holds up his palm, “Ah, save it. I already know.”

Emelie eyes Gabriella with an incredulous smile, “How the hell does _he_ know?”

“I’m her best friend, what did you expect?” Troy says with a laugh while Emelie’s smile fades a little, although she’s glad her sister doesn’t notice. Gabriella’s too busy beaming at Troy as a result of the words that just came out of his mouth. Ironically, Troy doesn’t notice either sister’s reaction to his words.

“Yeah, well anyway, I think I’d…” Emelie takes a brief moment to think it over, until she realizes that maybe this is a good opportunity to spend some time with Troy, even though her sister is there. _But he just confirmed it himself: Gabriella’s his best friend. And she’s practically trying everything to set me up with him… so why not?_

“I’d love to join you guys,” Emelie says with a little smirk, “Although I have a feeling Mom won’t be happy with us killing the visitor.”

“He’s a creep,”

“He’s just crushing on you,”

“No, he barged into our room,”

Emelie raises her eyebrows bitterly, “Oh, I see… yeah so where the hell is he?”

Gabriella walks forward and links her arm with her sister’s, “See, that’s the spirit!”

Troy trails behind slightly as the three of them head into the school gym from the outdoor exit. The gymnasium is abandoned and has been as such ever since the end of basketball season.

“Wow, I just realized the last time I was in here was for the last home game,” Troy mumbles, thinking about the end of basketball season.

Gabriella scoffs, “And you should be glad. The gym sucks.”

“We have one of the best ones in the state, but okay,” he says with an amused smile.

Gabriella stops and turns her body to face both of them at once, “All right so what’s our plan?”

Emelie shrugs, “I don’t know, I mean do we actually plan on killing him? Or just driving him away?”

“He _is_ a monster as per our textbook,”

“And experiences,” Troy interjects, “He nearly drained your neck back at Mystic Falls High, so…” Emelie’s eyes widen as she turns to Gabriella in shock.

“Wait, he attacked you? You left that part out!”

“He didn’t attack me!”

“He would have,” Troy points out.

Gabriella sighs, “Yeah, yeah he would have. But you were there to save me, so no big deal!”

Emelie scoffs, “You should have told me regardless, Gabi.”

“I didn’t wanna worry you!”

“If you told me before, Sebastian would’ve been dead by now!”

Troy looks at Emelie impressed, “You don’t really seem like the killer type.” Emelie averts her eyes from him shyly, hiding her smile.

“She’s a pyromaniac witch,” Gabriella rolls her eyes, “She can kick your ass.”

Troy steps toward Emelie playfully, “So you cast a lot of fire spells?”

Emelie giggles, “It’s a little more than that. I’ve been practicing the use of fire spells for so long that… I’m just very skilled at handling them.”

Troy’s eyes are dancing as he smiles at Em, “That’s really cool, and kinda scary if we’re being honest.” Gabriella bites her bottom lip and smiles as she watches her sister chuckle in response.

“Why don’t we practice our fire spells, then? Em is already an expert, but I bet Troy and I could use some help,” Gabriella suggests, giving her sister a knowing look as she moves next to Troy. Emelie immediately notices how they’ve naturally positioned themselves in a way that their shoulders are touching.

“I don’t know, I mean—” Emelie is cut off by the sound of the gym door opening, the clicking echoing all throughout the gymnasium.

“I just can’t seem to escape you three, huh?” Sebastian says with a smirk.

“Don’t make it look as if you’re not constantly stalking us,” Gabriella retorts.

“No, not us,” Troy looks down to his side at Gabriella, “You.”

“Maybe I _should_ practice those fire spells,” Emelie mumbles.

“Yeah, on him!” Gabriella says with a bitter smile.

“Well you’d have to be faster than me to cast one of your cute little fireballs,” Sebastian says with a condescending raise of his eyebrow.

“Aww, give me a chance,” Emelie says as she forms a fireball in her hand with just a small flick of her wrist, outstretching her right arm so the ball shoots right at Sebastian. The fireball hits his arm and causes the entire left side of his body to catch on fire, causing him to fall to the ground in agony.

Emelie walks over to him, looking down at him with a tilted head, “You looked like you were cold, so I thought I’d help you out.” Troy stands still in the back, still right next to Gabriella, however there’s a bit of distance between them now as they observe the sight in shock. Emelie squeezes her fist and the flames subside, leaving an injured and pained Sebastian on the ground.

“Well,” Troy clears his throat hesitantly, “That was a good demonstration.”

Gabriella walks over to Emelie and puts a hand on her shoulder whispering in her ear, “If that doesn’t do the trick, I don’t know what will. And I guess we have Seb to thank for that.”

The three of them leave the vampire in the gymnasium as they exit, walking back out into the outdoors and onto the great lawn. The sun is shining brightly yet again, illuminating their eyes as they walk in the yellowed environment.

“So are we going to pretend like we didn’t just set a guy on fire?” Troy says with a smirk, walking with his hands in his pockets. He ignores the looks he can feel from eyes from almost every angle.

“We?” Gabriella scoffs, “You mean Emelie.”

Troy rolls his eyes, “You know, I thought that we were going on this murder mission as a team, so I just assumed this would be a collective win.”

“It is a collective win,” Emelie confirms quietly, looking up at Troy with a soft smile which he returns.

“No it’s not,” Gabriella says with a sarcastic smile, putting her arm around Em’s shoulders, “She deserves all the credit.” Troy rolls his eyes yet again and looks off to the side, spotting MG standing not too far away.

Gabriella spots him too and calls him before Troy can. MG walks over to them and smiles at all three, however his smile is more of a suggestive smirk when he looks at Troy, quickly darting his eyes toward the two sisters that stand to his right. Troy gives MG a threatening look silently.

“What are y’all up to?”

“We’re trying to kill Sebastian,”

“Oh! Well um, I bet you guys have your reasons! I actually haven’t met him straight up yet,”

“You don’t want to,” Troy says with a small chuckle, crossing his arms over his chest.

“She nearly burned him like a marshmallow,” Gabriella says, pointing to Emelie next to her with her thumb.

Emelie stirs, “Well that’s an interesting way to put it. Let’s just say I was getting revenge for the apparent attack he made on my sister.”

MG furrows his eyebrows, “Damn, he attacked you?”

Gabriella holds up her hand, “No he didn’t! He would have if it weren’t for Troy of course,” she doesn’t notice MG giving Troy a knowing look, “but he didn’t, so who cares?”

“So are y’all still trying to kill him?” MG asks.

Troy thinks for a moment, and then nods enthusiastically, “Yep!” He looks over Emelie’s head and to Gabriella, “We need something to do with our lives while we’re on probation, right? Or else we’ll end up making some really dumb decisions.” She immediately recognizes that he’s referencing to her one-night-stand with their current target.

Gabriella groans as Troy snickers, “You’re an asshole, you know?”

“I never said anything wrong,” Troy says as Emelie begins to chuckle as well, leaving MG confused.

Gabriella sighs, looking MG square in the eyes, “I had a one-night-stand with Sebastian because he’s hot and I was bored. There.” MG opens his mouth in shock, and then bursts out laughing similar to Troy.

“See! It’s funny!” Troy says with a smirk.

“It’s really not,” Emelie says to Troy, looking at him disappointedly.

“Oh come on, lighten up,” he nudges her.

“You sure nudge people a lot,”

“Nah I don’t,” Troy chuckles, “I hate human contact, if we’re being honest.” Gabriella’s ears perk up at this, and when Troy isn’t looking, she violently shakes Emelie’s arm in excitement.

“So he hates touching people, but he’s constantly nudging you?” Gabriella whispers in Em’s ear.

Em purses her lips, “It’s not a big deal.”

Gabriella turns her attention to all three of them again, her voice low and sharp, “This stays between the four of us, okay? No one else knows, and no one will _ever_ know.”

“Have you seen the new visitor? He’s literally so hot,” a student passing by says to her walking companion, catching the attention of all four.

Emelie turns back to Gabriella, snickering, “Maybe last night will get you street creds, actually.”

Gabriella smirks, “Even if it does, no one needs to know.”

Troy waves his hand in the air dismissively, “Yeah yeah, no one’s gonna spill.”

The four of them begin to head across the lawn, away from the gym entirely as they don’t want anything to do with Sebastian, if anyone by any chance finds his injured body.

“The guy’s like a super old vampire, right? He’s probably awake by now,” MG says.

“Probably, but until he approaches us, I don’t wanna anything to do with him,” Troy replies.

“I thought this was a mission to kill him?”

“It is, but it’ll be more interesting if he’s trying to kill us too,” Troy says with a smirk as Emelie turns to him incredulously.

“What? No! We don’t want that!” She says as Troy snickers.

“I’m just hoping he’s a little less obsessed with me by then,” Gabriella groans tiredly.

“Now you know what it feels like to be Troy,” MG says jokingly as Gabriella scoffs.

“Oh please, he may be popular but he doesn’t have literal stalkers who may or may not be infatuated with him,” She retorts as Troy and Emelie look at each other awkwardly, staying quiet while the other two argue.

“Stalkers, maybe not. Infatuation, yes,”

“Ah, can we like— not talk about this?” Troy mumbles, “Oh look, Sebastian’s over there talking to some girls.”

Gabriella rolls her eyes, “Trying to change the subject, I see.”

Troy slows down his pace so he’s behind Gabi, taking her by the shoulders and turning her body in the opposite direction. Emelie and MG stop walking and turn around as well.

“No, look,” he points to Sebastian from over her shoulder, “That’s literally Sebastian talking to some girls.”

Gabriella clenches her jaw, “I’m going over there.”

“We’re waiting for him to come to us, remember?”

“Maybe _you_ are, but not me! I just wanna know what he really wants with me, and then I’ll decide whether to kill him or not,”

Troy scoffs, “I thought killing him was a certainty in our plan.” Gabriella ignores him and begins to walk forward, moving out of Troy’s gentle grasp on her shoulders.

“Uh, should we go with her?” Emelie asks the two boys who stand on either side of her.

“I think we should let her handle this,” Troy says with a chuckle, “She doesn’t exactly look merry and bright.”

Gabriella strolls over Sebastian, causing the other two girls to scurry away as if in fear. Sebastian raises an eyebrow at Gabriella, smirking at her as she approaches. His eyes move down to her slightly exposed abs, the tone and definition catching his attention.

“Is your pyromaniac sister around? Tell her to beware,” Sebastian threateningly widens his eyes, his smirk still on his face as he moves closer to her, “for I did not appreciate getting lit on fire.” MG stirs next to Troy and Emelie as they stand at quite a distance from the vampire and the witch. MG is the only one who can hear them, and Emelie taps him on the shoulder.

“What did he just say?”

MG looks at Emelie carefully, swallowing, “Um, nothing. Just something about last night.”

Emelie scoffs, “That’s not the truth, MG.”

MG sighs, “Fine, he said…” Troy turns his head to listen to MG as well, “that you should beware, because you lit him on fire.” Emelie’s eyes widen very slightly as Troy shifts his weight on his feet.

As they listen carefully, Gabriella scoffs in front of Sebastian, “You’d have to get through me first, and regardless of how easy you think that is, that’s not gonna end well. You’ll be wishing that your hand is the only thing I cut off.”

Sebastian chuckles bitterly in response, “I’d love to see you try, witch.”

“Oh really?” Gabriella retorts in a low tone, raising her one eyebrow slowly as a threatening smirk spreads across her face.

“Certainly,” Sebastian responds, reaching for Gabriella’s shoulder with his hand. He has barely put his palm down on the side of her bicep when she flinches away, her eyes narrowing in anger.

“Don’t touch me,” she growls angrily, her voice low and quiet.

“On another note,” Troy mumbles from where he’s standing, making Emelie and MG turn to him as he watches Gabriella flinch away in panic, “maybe she could use a little help.” He starts walking away from both parties, causing Em and MG to feel confused.

“Where are you going?” MG asks Troy, who turns around but continues moving by walking backwards.

“You’ll see,” he responds curtly. MG and Emelie exchange a confused glance before they look back at Gabriella and Sebastian, noticing that Troy is walking up to Sebastian from behind, his hand… glowing?

Troy squeezes his fist and Sebastian instantly puts his hands on his own neck, feeling an intense suffocating sensation. Beads of sweat begin to glisten on Sebastian’s forehead, confusing Gabriella as she watches. _Vampires don’t sweat…_

She steps out from Sebastian’s shadow and spots Troy leisurely strolling toward the vampire, one hand in his pocket while the other is balled up into a fist, a very faint golden glow emitting from it. People are starting to look, but Troy doesn’t care.

“You okay there, Seb?” Troy calls out, smirking amusedly.

Sebastian doesn’t turn around for Troy makes his way in front of him, stepping into the space between the vampire and Gabriella.

“What… are… you… doing… to me?” Sebastian asks in a low growl, clearly unable to breathe.

“You’re sweating,” Gabriella observes quietly as Sebastian gasps for air, Troy still right in front of him.

“You feel that?” Troy says in a deep, threatening tone, narrowing his eyelids while his blue pupils widen, “That’s your blood starting to boil.” Sebastian gnaws at his own neck and his knees begin to buckle slightly. Troy smirks in satisfaction as he watches the vampire suffer in sheer agony, until he looks up and notices people looking at the scene rather frighteningly. He didn’t even notice his own fist was glowing, but he quickly shuts everything down by unclenching his fist.

“Don’t touch her, or anyone, again,” Troy growls at Sebastian, the anger in his eyes almost more terrifying than the powers he just exercised. Sebastian disappears from their sight as he uses his vampire speed to run off. Troy turns around and spots Gabriella, standing as rigidly as a board.

Troy looks at her with concern, “You okay?”

“Yeah, yeah I’m fine,” she responds with a soft smile, which later turns into a smirk, “That was pretty awesome, not gonna lie.”

Troy chuckles, “My Aunt Davina taught me how to do that. Making people’s blood boil is kinda her thing. I think she even did it to my dad once.” Both of them begin to laugh, getting absorbed into their own conversation.

Emelie and MG both of them have their mouths half open, at a loss of words at what they just saw. MG had told Emelie everything he was hearing as the situation went down.

“Well that was… entertaining,” MG says, chuckling nervously.

“That’s not the word I would use, but sure,” Emelie says with a gulp.

MG exhales, “Damn that was unexpected. Witches don’t tend to boil blood that often, right?”

Emelie shrugs, “I don’t even know if I can do that.”

“Tribrid shit, I guess,”

“And best friend shit,” Emelie adds on with a tone more somber than bitter.

MG can sense a bit of tension in the air, “Well, Troy’s a pretty generous person anyway. This is kinda typical of him.”

Emelie shakes her head slightly, “Not really. He’s definitely the giving type, but I hadn’t ever seen his protective side before…”

“Before what?”

Emelie looks at MG, her eyes a bit glum, “Before he befriended my sister.”

MG sighs, “I don’t know if you wanna hear this, but he definitely does care about her. More than he cares about the average person. But that makes sense, because they’re really good friends.”

“They’ve declared themselves best friends, actually,” Emelie clarifies.

“Oh, well that explains it even more. He’s just being a good friend,”

Emelie sighs, “I can’t help but think that maybe he’s starting to like her.”

“I think about that too sometimes, and also about how he already likes you,” MG says with a small smile that Emelie timidly returns.

“He doesn’t like me, MG. He’s unsure about his crush on me, but Gabi…”

MG chuckles lightly, “Em, no offense, but you’re making no sense. He literally told you that he has a small crush on you, but you think he likes Gabi more? Whose guts he hated just a little over a month ago?”

Emelie steps closer to MG with her arms crossed, shaking her head slightly, “Think about it. He told us that he hates human contact, yet…”

“Yet he’s always nudging you,” MG finishes with a small smile, nudging Emelie himself and making her laugh lightly.

“No, actually that’s not what I was gonna say,” Em sighs, “Yet he’s literally always touching _her_. Gabi herself hates being touched, as we just saw. But I mean, look at them right now.” She gestures at Troy and Gabriella, still in conversation as they stand a certain distance away from Em and MG, both of them laughing as they shove each other. Gabriella shoves Troy’s shoulder and he barely moves. He narrows his eyes playfully at her before shoving her himself, barely putting any strength into it. However, Gabriella topples backwards, her back hitting the luscious, green grass.

Troy is laughing hysterically as Gabriella leans on her forearms, throwing her head back in frustration as she groans.

“I can’t believe you actually pushed me to the ground!”

“I didn’t think you’d actually fall! I barely even tried to move you!”

“Dumbass, you’re a tribrid! A little poke from you might throw someone across the room!”

Troy continues to laugh as he towers over her body, outstretching both of his hands, “Let’s get you back on your feet, little mortal.” Gabriella can’t help but giggle as she takes his hands, allowing him to use the same strength that knocked her down to pull her up into standing position.

“Little?” Gabriella asks with an eyebrow raise, crossing her arms over her chest.

Troy holds up his hands in defense, “Little as in shorter than me and younger by two months. It’s not supposed to be condescending in any way, I promise.”

Gabriella rolls her eyes, smiling slightly, “Fine, I guess I’ll let it slide.”

Emelie hears this final exchange from the distance at which she’s standing, considering their voices were a little louder.

She turns to MG, “Wait, what did he call her?”

MG pretends he doesn’t know what she’s talking about, “What do you mean?”

Emelie pulls her lips into a straight line, “He said something about being condescending. And Gabi said she’ll let it slide. He called her something. What was it?”

“I didn’t hear him call her anything,”

“MG, just tell me,”

“Damn it Em, why?”

“Why not?” Em practically shouts.

“He called her ‘little mortal’, there I said it!” MG spits back, narrowing his eyes in frustration.

Em swallows, “You mean he called her a pet name? And she let him?”

MG closes his eyes and sighs, opening his eyes again and looking at Emelie, “Why do this to yourself? You’re making yourself jealous over things that don’t really matter.”

“You think that because you don’t know Gabriella the way I do,” Emelie turns back to observe her sister and her crush, “She hates being touched. She hates being called pet names or anything that makes her look cute or small. She hates receiving help. Yet when Troy does any of those things, she accepts it with open arms.”

“Because he’s her _best friend_ , Em,” MG says almost desperately.

Emelie gives the best friend duo one last look before turning around, “I’m gonna go now, see you later, MG.” He watches her walk away, feeling defeated after that conversation. He looks at Troy and Gabriella again, seeing immediately what Em was talking about.

_They’re definitely different with each other, but what’s the point in overanalyzing it, right? Unless it’s not overanalyzing… maybe Emelie was just stating facts._

—

Troy peeks out his window, using his wolf vision to spot the bare tree branches with budding leaves on them, swaying in the light breeze while staying hidden in the dark night.

It’s midnight, and Troy can’t fall asleep as usual. Most students are awake doing homework at this time anyway, but they eventually fall asleep; Troy never gets to that point.

His phone pings on his nightstand as a text from Gabriella slides onto his screen. He opens it, knowing exactly what it’ll be about.

_Gabriella: spare physics hw <3_

_Troy: it took up like- four sheets of paper_

_Gabriella: good to know_

_Gabriella: now send it- its midnight and im suffering_

_Troy: no way im taking pics of four sheets of paper_

_Gabriella: OMG FINE I’ll come pick it up from your room_

Troy chuckles to himself, locating his physics homework sitting on his dresser.

_Troy: ur relentless_

_Gabriella: yeah wtvr I know_

He soon hears a knock at his door, which he opens to find a tired Gabriella standing in front of him, her arms crossed over her green sweater.

“You know we _never_ get physics homework right? This is like the first time in months,”

Gabriella rolls her eyes, “Yeah but doesn’t mean I’ve got the time to do it! Just give it to me and I’ll be on my way.”

Troy walks over to his dresser and picks up the four sheets of paper, turning around toward the door and seeing Gabriella lingering by the door awkwardly yet again.

Troy sighs, “Gabriella.”

“What?”

“You may come in,” he says with a small smile as she steps into the room and closes the door behind her.

“I was just gonna take the homework and go,”

Troy eyes her, “You looked like you wanted to come in.”

Gabriella’s attention is yet again on his painting, “Well I didn’t.” She glances at him briefly, smirking. She can’t help but move in front of the painting again, taking in every detail.

“You really love that painting, don’t you?”

“I’d love to disagree because _you_ made it,” she giggles, “but I can’t, because it’s true. It’s one of the best pieces of art I’ve ever seen.”

“There’s far better art in the world, but thank you,” he smiles.

“I can’t imagine anyone else making anything like this,”

“There’s plenty of art in the Metropolitan Museum, the British Museum, the Louvre… should I go on?” Troy smirks as Gabriella rolls her eyes playfully.

“Oh shut up,” she looks at her feet as she shifts her weight, “I’ve actually wanted to go to all of those places since… forever, really. But I’ve never gotten the chance.”

Troy looks at her carefully, “Maybe one day someone can take you.”

Gabriella scoffs, “Take me? Oh please, I’ll take myself.”

He shrugs, “It’s better with a companion. Trust me, I know from experience.”

Gabriella raises an eyebrow and smiles slightly, “Did you take one of your girlfriends to Europe or something? Or worse, you found someone in Europe and they took you?” Both of them begin to laugh.

“Gabi I went with my aunt,”

Gabriella’s laughter intensifies, “Oh! Well I bet it was even better, because girlfriends are overrated.”

Troy nods wearily, “They honestly are.” Gabriella eyes him curiously, wondering what he means by that. _Probably some crazy ex-girlfriend or something._

“I was pretty young though, so I don’t really know if it counts,” he turns to her, “I’d also love to go again.” Both witches exchange timid smiles before Troy walks to the other end of the room, shutting his laptop.

Gabriella sighs quietly, “So what are you doing now?”

Troy shrugs, “Nothing, I guess.”

Gabriella nods, “So you’re probably gonna sleep now… and me raving about your painting at midnight is probably getting in the way of that.” She chuckles as she awkwardly begins to move toward the door.

“Oh, um, I’m not going to sleep,” Troy says quickly, clearing his throat after, “Sleep doesn’t come to me that easily anyway, so you can- continue raving about the painting if you want.”

Gabriella smiles, “You just like the praise.”

“Maybe,” he smirks, “or maybe it’s just nice to have some company. Ever think about that?”

Gabriella’s smile widens, “Well besides this physics homework, I’ve got nothing else to do.”

Troy’s eyes go toward the window, “Am I the only one who feels suffocated in here? Here as in, our quarters, when we’re in them too long.”

“Same,” Gabriella chuckles, “Why do you think I’d always occupy the library after hours?” Both of them remember all the times Troy attempted to go to the school library after dark, finding Gabriella there much to his dismay.

“You should’ve taken turns,”

“It’s my mom’s school, so I get first pick, even if that means every time,” she giggles, noticing his eyes darting to the window again, “I was planning on going for a walk in the woods, do you wanna join?”

He smiles very faintly, “Sure.”

They head out of the quarters and walk into the same woods where they saw Sebastian, however both of them are sure they won’t run into the vampire again.

Troy has his hands in his pockets, that air of confidence invisibly encircling him, “I just think it’s funny how we’ve had plenty of encounters with Sebastian so far, and we still haven’t killed the guy.”

Gabriella clicks her tongue sarcastically, “We’ve shown too much mercy.”

Troy laughs, “I think we have, although I feel like if we kill the school visitor, our probation will last forever.”

“Probation? We’d be jailed in our rooms,” Gabriella snickers.

Gabriella looks up, seeing the stars shining as there aren’t any leaves on the branches, “So do you have any other hidden talents that I should know about?”

Troy laughs, “No, I’ve got nothing else. However, you,” he eyes her playfully, “haven’t told me anything about you. So maybe now’s the time.”

Gabriella purses her lips, “All right, well I’m not artistically inclined like you. Not at all, but I am musically inclined. I can play the piano somewhat nicely, I guess.”

“I can play a single song because I burned it into my memory. No literally, I performed a spell so that I would always remember where Uncle Elijah’s fingers moved as he played,” Troy says with a snicker, although Gabriella bursts out laughing, “But anyway, keep going.”

Gabriella searches her mind, “There’s the fact that I’m also bilingual, although I’m pretty sure people already know that.”

Troy nods, “Yeah, you can speak Spanish, right?”

“Yep, so there’s that. And um… nothing else, I guess. I haven’t done much with my life, unfortunately. I spent a good portion of my teenage years nervously tapping my feet, hoping for my mom to find the cure to the Merge,” Gabriella sighs as Troy looks down at the ground.

The Merge is a a powerful ritual performed as a practiced tradition by the Gemini Coven that determined who will be their next leader. It takes place in the Gemini Coven when two twins reach their 22nd birthday. It's a mental battle between the two twins, and the one who's more powerful... consumes the other twin's mental power. If Caroline hadn't found the cure, Gabriella and Emelie would have had to participate in their own Merge, and only one twin would come out alive.

“I’m glad she did,” he says softly.

Gabriella chuckles, “Yeah, same here. I can’t even begin to fathom what the Merge would be like, and I don’t want to.”

“Now you don’t have to lose each other,”

She smiles, “Yeah, we don’t.”

“And no one else has to lose you either,” he adds, averting his eyes in the other direction as she turns to look at him.

“Aww, are you talking about yourself?”

Troy turns back with a grin, “Me and practically everyone else that knows you.”

Gabriella giggles shyly, feeling unlike herself but in the best way, “Well don’t worry Troy, you don’t have to worry about losing your best friend.” She puts more emphasis on the last two words, causing Troy to roll his eyes.

“I don’t know about that. There’s no Merge, but you’re clumsy as hell. You’ve nearly gotten killed like three-ish times so far,”

Gabriella scoffs, “Not my fault I’m mortal!”

“So in all honesty, _you_ don’t have to worry about losing your best friend,” he smirks at her, “considering I’m the ultimate form of immortal.”

Gabriella rolls her eyes, “Yes we know. And although that ego of yours can really use some deflating,” she turns her head toward him again and smiles softly, “It’s certainly reassuring to know that.” He returns the smile before both of them turn forward again, enjoying the peace of the night.

Troy is observing the stars as well when he feels a sharp scraping sensation on his arm, causing him to whip his head downward to his left forearm. There’s a huge scar, blood seeping out from within. He stops walking to examine the mystery wound when Gabriella turns back as well, squinting her eyes to see what’s going on.

“Hey what hap—” she gasps when she sees a drop of blood fall to the raw ground, “Oh god, your arm.”

Troy looks up at her with a calm expression, although there’s a hint of fear, or rather defeat, in his sparkling blue eyes.

“I’m not healing,” he says so softly that she can’t hear.

“What?” she whispers back.

He looks up into her eyes again, “I’m not healing, Gabriella.” Her eyes go wide as the same realization hits her. She’s about walk over to him when several shards of wood shoot out from different angles, all simultaneously puncturing Troy’s arms and torso. Another gasp of shock escapes from Gabriella’s throat as Troy stumbles back a little, feeling both confused and helpless, something he hasn’t felt for two years.

She finally rushes over to him, afraid to touch him as he seems to injured everywhere. Her eyes frantically scan over the many small but bloody wounds that cover his upper body.

“Oh god,” she whispers, feeling suffocated as both panic and tears build up inside of her, “Troy what’s happening? Why aren’t you healing?”

He exhales, steadying himself as he continues to bleed, “I don’t know.” She walks behind him to check how many injuries he has on his back, leaving the ventral side of his body exposed. Suddenly, more shards of wood shoot out, these slightly bigger as they puncture his abdomen. Troy lets out a stifled grunt, losing his balance and falling to the ground. He stealthily catches himself on his forearms, knowing the shards in his back will only dig in deeper if he allows his body to lie on the ground.

Gabriella watches him fall to the ground, covering her mouth as the sight catches her off guard. Troy Bolton, the tribrid, bleeding out in front of her, clearly stifling his pain in order to stay strong for… her? Himself? Her mind spins as the suffocation in her throat gets the best of her, the tears rapidly welling up in her eyes, one even slipping down her cheek from the corner of her left eye.

Her hands hover over his body, afraid to touch him as it could bring him more pain, “What should I do? Should I call for help?” Her breath is shaky, and she notices the same in him as he lets out a trembling exhale.

He puts his hand on her shoulder, his grasp still strong, “Gabriella, it’s okay. I can get up.”

“No, no, give it a moment,” she stops him from getting up, “God, you’re hurt everywhere.” Another tear slips from the corner of her eye, which she quickly wipes away.

Troy exhales again, “I know, but I’m fine. I can get up, and I can take myself back to the quarters. It’s okay.” He brings himself to his feet rather effortlessly, not surprising Gabriella but relieving her instead.

He attempts to walk forward but finds that he can only move his foot slightly, for every stroke of his legs causes his bloody torso to clench. Gabriella moves beside him, carefully taking his left arm and putting it over her shoulders. She holds the hand that’s sitting on her left shoulder tightly, her other arm wrapped carefully around his abdomen, avoiding touching any of the wounds.

“It’s okay,” she whispers, “We’ll walk together.”

Troy exhales sharply as the first few movements bring him a burst of pain all throughout his body, but he soon falls into sync with Gabriella’s steady footsteps. She keeps her head forward, leading them out of the woods and toward their quarters, being as discreet as possible. He looks down at her, his lips curling into a small, barely noticeable smile as he notices how her hand is firmly clutching his. It’s almost as if she’s holding onto him for support.

In reality, however, he’s holding onto her. The tribrid is only a variation of Earth’s prominent species; even he is more human than he is anything else. And what is a human without vulnerability?

He allows her to guide them all the way back to their quarters, which aren’t too far but feel like they’re miles away, at least for Troy. They quietly enter into the stone building, both of them carefully climbing up the curling staircase. Gabriella takes him to his room door—which he opens for them with his thumbprint—and sits him down at the edge of the bed.

“Here,” Gabriella opens up a new bottle of water and hands it to him, “drink some water.” Troy slowly takes a single sip, and he’s about to hand it back to her when she pushes it back.

“Have more,” she demands.

“I’m good, thanks,” he says softly, smiling at her. She doesn’t smile back; instead she scoffs frustratedly.

“Troy, you just got stabbed everywhere. It’s okay to be vulnerable, to take an extra sip of water, to admit that you’re in pain,”

“Well I never said I’m not in pain, but I genuinely just don’t want more water, Gabi,” he says, outstretching his scarred, bloody arm with the bottle in his arm. Her eyes fall on the arm, the frustration in her eyes draining immediately as she finally takes the bottle.

Troy’s right hand begins to glow again as he hovers his palm over one of the scars on his other arm. He seems to be performing a healing spell… one that doesn’t work. He clenches his jaw, intently looking at glow emitting from his hand.

“It’s not working,” he says simply.

“Then that means I’ll have to heal you,” Gabriella says determinedly.

“There’s a ton of scars, Gabi,”

“And?”

“It might take a lot of time,” Troy shakes his head slightly, “I’ll figure it out, don’t worry.”

Gabriella furrows her eyebrows, “What the hell do you mean you’ll figure it out? You’re still bleeding, and you’re in pain. There’s no figuring it out, tribrid. I have to heal you, and I don’t care if it takes an hour, I’m not letting you sit here bleeding all night with your huge ass ego.” Troy can’t help but smirk a little at the last part.

“Well most of the stabbings are,” he looks down at his abdomen, which is bleeding through his dark blue shirt, “near my stomach.”

Gabriella nods, “Yeah and on your back, too.”

Troy looks at her for a moment, not breaking their eye contact until he sighs, “All right, well, uh…” He rises up from the bed, unconsciously turning away as he grabs the hem of his shirt, attempting to pull it off rapidly. The movement in his arms brings a sharp, painful sensation to radiate all throughout his body, making him wince. He tries again, this time much slower. A quiet, stifled grunt escapes his lips as he slowly removes his blue shirt, the fabric brushing over many of his scars painfully.

Gabriella is about to look away as she feels incredibly awkward being there; that is, until she can see his back. His intensely defined muscles are clenched as he removes the shirt, but it’s the blood and scarring that really gets her attention. She can’t look away as she feels a sharp pain in her own heart, not from a stabbing, but simply from the fact that she has gotten the awful opportunity to see the most invincible creature on Earth in agonizing pain.

Troy exhales in both pain and relief as he tosses the shirt onto the bed. He turns around slowly, revealing his toned torso to Gabriella, who has to tear her eyes away from his abs. She can’t decide whether she’s staring because of the muscles, or because of the blood. Either way, she looks back up into his eyes.

“Why don’t I start with the biggest wound?” She suggests mostly to herself, although Troy nods silently anyway. He doesn’t know what else to do but simply let her do what she’s doing. Gabriella hovers her hand over the largest wound, which is on his abdomen, mentally casting a healing spell. She desperately hopes the wound will recede, and can’t help but smile victoriously when it does.

“Oh thank god, it’s working!”

Troy smiles, “Good to know I won’t bleed out all night.”

Gabriella chuckles, “You really think I’d let that happen? I may think you’re annoying but I’m not heartless.”

Troy lightly chuckles as well as Gabriella makes her way around his entire body, hovering her hand over every scar one by one, healing the lacerations and dissipating the surrounding blood. She’s finished with his arms and anterior portion of his torso, moving onto his back next. She stands behind him, quickly realizing the intensity of the wounds on his back is different.

“Oh god,” she says quietly, peaking Troy’s attention.

“Uh, is everything okay?”

“You seem to be a little more hurt here,”

“Really? It doesn’t feel any different,” he lies.

“I can tell you’re not telling the truth,” Gabriella sighs, “The wounds aren’t red, they’re already changing color.”

“Can you heal them?” He asks rather nervously.

“Of course I can, I’m just letting you know that it’s even uglier back here,”

“Wow thank you for that,” He chuckles quietly.

Gabriella does the same as before, however having to hover her hand over the wounds a bit longer as they seem to be worse, although she doesn’t know the reason why. After all, she’s just a witch with healing abilities, not a doctor.

“Oh come on,” she mumbles to herself.

“What now?” Troy asks wearily.

“This one won’t heal quick enough. Whatever they shot you with, it was powerful,”

“On that note, do you have the shards?”

“Yes I removed all of them before starting the healing process. They’re piled up on your dresser,” She says as she clenches her hand muscles a bit, attempting to heal the wound faster.

Gabriella sighs, “Troy?”

“Yeah?”

“Am I allowed to touch you? This won’t heal just by hovering. I’m gonna have to touch you, unless of course you don’t wa—”

“Gabriella, chill,” he turns his head to look over his shoulder, smiling softly at her, “Just do what you have to.”

She tenderly touches her palm to the wound, the healing energy still emitting from her hand. She can feel his comfortably warm skin on her own, and she herself feels this odd sense of relief that she can’t put her finger on. She focuses her mind back on the healing, noticing that the wound is finally starting to recede. Soon enough, the bruised laceration is closed, disappearing all together.

Gabriella breathes out, “All right, you’re all…” her voice trails off when notices a mark over his right trapezius muscle. It looks like a small tattoo, but she soon realizes that it’s not. It’s a natural mark, in the shape of a small cloud with a moon in the center.

Her hands take over her mind as she can’t help but trace the mark with the tip of her thumb. Troy feels her soft skin graze his muscle, causing him to look at her over his shoulder. Gabriella’s attention snaps back to Troy, whose blue eyes are focused on her. She quickly moves her thumb away, clearing her throat.

“I’m sorry, that was inappropriate,”

“No, you’re good,” he says softly, turning around to face her, “That’s my Crescent wolf mark. My mother had it, too.”

“Does anyone know about it? Other than your family, of course?”

Troy shakes his head, “No, I make sure no one can see it just so I can avoid the curious questions. Of course its discreet location definitely helps with that,” he smiles at her, “So now the only people who know about the mark are the Mikaelsons… and you.”

Gabriella smiles timidly, “Well, we’ve always known I’m special,” Troy chuckles and rolls his eyes. He moves toward his dresser, looking to examine the wooden shards he was shot with.

He takes a small shard and rolls it between his thumb and index finger, “I can’t believe it.” His voice is soft, and it seems he’s talking to himself more than Gabriella, although she doesn’t hesitate to question him.

“What? What is that, because it’s obviously not normal wood,”

“You’re definitely right about that,” he holds it up in front of her, “because it’s white oak.”

Gabriella’s eyes widen, “What? How could it possibly be white oak? The last stake was used by your father, and that was the end of the white oak supply on Earth… right?”

Troy bites the inside of his cheek, “Remember how I told you that your mom told me about that whole murder mission with the white oak stakes? And how my aunt burned the last of the wood? Well that wood was extracted from a sign that was to be installed next to Wickery Bridge. What if they already put some sort of base underneath the ground? My aunt probably didn’t burn that.”

Gabriella purses her lips, “So you’re saying there may have been white oak buried by Wickery Bridge this entire time? Don’t you think someone would have found it by now?” She moves next to him by the dresser, leaning her arm on it as well as he turns his body toward her.

“They _did_ find it, Gabi. They just decided to attack right now,”

“Who’s they?” Gabriella asks quietly, her voice short of a whisper.

Troy crosses his arms over his bare chest, leaning back on the dresser and sighing, “I don’t know. But what I do know… is that they’re trying to eradicate the remaining Mikaelsons, starting with me.”

Gabriella’s breath gets caught in her throat for a moment, examining Troy’s pensive facial expression. He seems to be thinking about a ton of things all at once— who wouldn’t? She averts her eyes downward, thinking: _If my mind and heart are racing, then imagine how he’s feeling._

She looks up again and finds his pensive eyes boring into her instead, and she can’t help but admire how beautifully blue they are. Even after everything that happened, that sparkling, bright blue has not receded one bit.

“Are you okay?” He says in a low but soft tone, smiling at her very slightly, “You got a little emotional out there.”

Gabriella looks away in embarrassment, stifling a smile, “We already know I’m a super dramatic person, so this is nothing new,” she sighs quietly, “I guess I just got… startled. I mean you’re the tribrid, you’re the most invincible creature there is. Seeing you bleeding and wounded was just frightening.

She looks right into his cerulean eyes, unable to look away as she continues rather hesitantly, “And you’re also my best friend. Excluding my sister, I’ve actually never had someone to call my best friend. I’ve always been the crazy one, the psycho, the ‘mental niece of Kai Parker’, and so many other horrible things. So it may seem like I’m making a big deal out of this whole best friend title thing, but I guess that’s because it _is_ a really big deal to me.

She takes a deep breath, feeling that suffocation in her throat again, “And we were _just_ talking about how I’ll never have to worry about losing you, the only person who considers _me_ as his best friend. It was awful, because just as I had processed the comforting truth… you got shot. Everywhere,” Gabriella feels that choking feeling subsiding as her eyes water slightly, much to her dismay, “It definitely sucks to see someone you care about get stabbed all over their torso.”

She chuckles in order to prevent a tear from slipping out, although it actually does the opposite. A tear slips down the center of her right cheek, and she wipes it away from with the back of her hand. Gabriella quickly casts her eyes downward, breaking her eye contact with Troy.

“Gabriella,” his voice says softly, although there’s a comforting sense of firmness in it as well.

“Yeah?”

“Look at me,” he says, causing her to reluctantly raise her eyes up again.

“What is it?”

Troy smiles at her softly, his own eyes displaying sentiment, “You look like you need a hug.” Gabriella swallows, looking at him in front of her and realizing that he’s still standing there with bare chest. His bare chest that was covered in bloody wounds only a few minutes ago.

She carefully takes a step forward and wraps both arms around his abdomen, letting her head rest on his chest. She exhales quietly, feeling relief wash over her as his strong, muscular arms wrap around her. Her half-exposed abs touch against his, and she can’t decide whether she regrets wearing a cropped hoodie or not. A thought creeps into her head: _As someone whose body doesn’t need to perform homeostasis, he’s comfortably warm._

She can’t help but laugh a little into his chest when she realizes that him calling her “little” is very much valid; she is much too short as compared to him. Gabriella separates a bit and looks up at Troy, craning her neck as he looks at her questioningly, a smile playing on his lips.

“Glad to hear you laughing, although I am curious as to why,”

Gabriella separates from him entirely, letting go of his body as she chuckles again, “I just realized that I really am super short, at least compared to you.”

“Well why do you think I call you little mortal?” He laughs softly, “I’ve got my reasons.”

Gabriella lets out a little sigh, happy to know that the awful sensation of choking is gone all together, “All right, well I guess I’ll go now. You’re feeling okay, right?”

Troy looks at her knowingly, “Of course I am.”

Gabriella smiles, “I’m glad. Anywho, I hope Em’s not awake. Or that she doesn’t end up waking up when I walk in— I’ll have some explaining to do, considering it’s like one a.m. now, and I’m never out of our room this late.”

Troy bites his bottom lip for a moment, moving closer to Gabriella, “Well, uh, why don’t you just stay then?”

Gabriella looks at him intently for a moment before chuckling nervously, “That’s sweet, and it would definitely save me some trouble. But I, uh, I don’t know, I don’t think I should stay.” Troy unconsciously clenches his jaw as he towers over her, causing her to crane her neck to look up at him.

His voice is low and soft, matching the dark aura of his room, “What would happen if you did?” Gabriella’s breath gets caught in her throat again as she finds herself unable to look away from him. Even in the dark, his facial features are defined and clear: his dark brown hair, his jawline, his subtle chin cleft. His blue eyes continue to look at her with a comforting but simultaneously intimidating sense of brightness.

“There would definitely be some nasty rumors by morning, that’s for sure,” she says, swallowing hard as she stands only inches away from him.

Troy smiles, “First of all, no one’s gonna walk in here. Unless we’ve gotta deal with Sebastian again, although I’m not stupid and would never leave my door unlocked,” Gabriella groans and rolls her eyes playfully, “Second, I don’t really sleep anyway. I basically don’t use my bed at this point, so it’s all yours.”

Gabriella furrows her eyebrows with both curiosity and concern, “Well that sounds a little worse than just— sleep not coming to you as easily. That sounds like…”

Troy nods, “Insomnia. Secondary to now-cured post-traumatic stress disorder.” Gabriella opens her mouth to say something, but finds herself at a loss for words.

“It’s okay, you don’t have to say anything,” he smiles softly, “Things were rough for me as a fifteen year old kid who lost both parents at the same time, but I got over it, mostly with the help of my family. However, certain things have stayed with me and I don’t really know how to shake them.”

“Like the insomnia,” she says quietly, looking at the ground.

“Yeah, and my inability to consume food,”

Gabriella looks up at him again, her eyes displaying sorrow, “Oh god, Troy. I’m so sorry. You’ve been suffering through so much.”

Troy shrugs, “It hasn’t been that bad. It would be if I wasn’t a tribrid, but because I heal and don’t even have to carry out a lot of human biological processes, these two things haven’t been affecting me too much. Not at all, if we’re being honest.”

“I always made such a big deal out of my mental disorders, thinking that everyone around me is perfectly healthy while I’m the only one who’s suffering,” Gabriella shakes her head at herself in disappointment, “but that’s so far from the truth.”

“ _Everything_ you said is far from the truth,” Troy says firmly, “You’re not insensitive. You still care about people, but you’re tough with them. I don’t think that’s a bad thing.”

Gabriella sighs, “I really want to argue with you…”

Troy smirks, “But it’s one a.m. and let me guess, your mortal body is crumbling under the pressure of sleep deprivation?” Gabriella smacks his arm with a good amount of strength, knowing it won’t hurt him.

“Oh shut up!” She says in his face before moving toward the bed, Troy still chuckling by the dresser. She awkwardly seats herself on the edge, still feeling a bit out of place. Not only has she never slept in someone else’s room before, but in a boy’s room? That half the school thinks she’s secretly dating anyway?

Troy outstretches his hand and his dark blue shirt from before is summoned to his hand. He seems to cleanse it of the blood stains before throwing it in his laundry basket in the closet, which he opens only a crack. Gabriella manages to spot a pair of Valentinos before he closes the sliding door again. He turns around and sees Gabriella chewing on her lip on the edge of his bed.

He sighs, stifling a chuckle, “You’re so incredibly awkward, I don’t know where to start.”

“You don’t think there’s anything weird about this?”

“Well if we were to describe it in the simplest of terms, sure it is! It’s literally the single most awkward thing ever! But in reality…” he grabs a black t-shirt from his dresser and puts it on quickly, “I just got badly injured in the middle of the woods, and my best friend healed me, and now she’s absolutely exhausted and can’t walk into her room right now. So she’s crashing here. Now chill out and sleep.”

Gabriella groans irritably, putting her feet on the bed and undoing the blanket as she lies prone underneath. She turns to her side so her back is facing him, and she almost immediately feels her eyes closing under the “pressures of sleep deprivation” as Troy called it earlier.

“Goodnight, little mortal,” he says softly from behind her.

“Goodnight, tribrid,” she replies, her lips curling into a small smile as her eyelids are unable to keep themselves open any longer.


End file.
